 
This piece is after a painting on a ninth-century BCE urn from Knossos, which on one side depicts a Goddess arriving on a wheeled cart, Her wings folded, surrounded by bird life and twining plant life. On the other side of the urn the same Goddess is shown, again on the cart, but with Her wings uplifted, the birds flying away, and the plants withered. Clearly She is a Goddess of the growing seasons, Who brings and renews life in the springtime, and leaves again in the autumn or winter. As Hera is associated with youth, springtime, and blossoming, this may well be an early depiction of Her. I have also painted a corresponding Arriving Hera, after the front side of the Knossos urn, to make a set. Done as a commission. |