These 2 paintings will be exhibited in the Laperouse Museum until January 2011.
They were inspired by meditation on the unpredictable nature of history, exploration and the fate of nations.
They are memento mori paintings in the tradition of 17th and 18th century still life 'vanitas' paintings.
The portrait of the gallant yet doomed La Perouse receiving his
commission from his equally ill-fated monarch is doubly ironic.
The
antipodean voyage of La Perouse was personally planned by the king
together with the explorer. The loss of La Perouse and his expedition
caused Louis XVI both personal grief and political humiliation.
'La Perouse - the navigator and the King'
2010 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
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Louis XVI sought to reinvigorate the
stagnating French economy through trade and had invested a great deal
of the government finances into improving the French Navy.
This was both
a personal and a political goal.
His private study was filled with
nautical charts and the burnished brass of mathematical instruments,
telescopes, sextants and the locks which the King himself designed and
made.
Louis XVI desperately wanted to regain the colonial power and prestige
lost by his grandfather in the Seven Year’s War. Most of the debt
burdening his government was from French involvement in the revolt of
the American colonies against Britain.
A radical program of naval
reconstruction was undertaken by first Turgot, then Sartine and finally
de Castries. These brilliant, though fiscally irresponsible men
attempted to transform the French navy into the equal of the British
fleet, but heroic projects such as the transformation of Cherbourg
harbour came at a ruinous price.
La Perouse - 'The Art of Navigation'
2010 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
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It was a real 'Sliding Doors' moment.
If Governor Philip and all his ships had been lost at sea and instead La Perouse had made a triumphant return to France after adding the continent of Australia to France’s extensive colonial empire, what could have been the outcome?
Would Australia have been settled by French colonists or become a battleground between the French and British Empires as Canada had been?
If La Perouse’s expedition had ended in a blaze of glory, would the good publicity have sufficiently enhanced the reputation of the monarchy to withstand the economic and social pressures that resulted in the anarchy of the Revolution?
Now that the exhibition in the LaPerouse Museum has finished, I'm going to enter "The Art of Navigation" in the Camden Art Prize.
It's far too strange to win, it'll just confuse the judges.
But I feel like being brave.
And it will certainly stand out in the crowd.
Update : It was runner-up!
See my blog post "Keep your eyes on the prize and your finger off the trigger!"
Related posts
The Art of Navigation
