Luke King-Salter
Albano in Italy
Acrylic on board, 59.4 x 84 cm. 2021. SOLD
An abstract illustration of Jean Paul Richter's novel Titan. Fleeing the death of his beloved and the political machinations of his compatriots, the hero Albano travels to Italy. Every night he wanders among the ruins of a proud civilization, admires the beauty and grandeur of nature, and reflects on the vacuity of modern life. He dreams of glory and plans to fight in the Napoleonic wars, supposedly the righteous scourge of a decadent Europe.
The painting is an abstract nocturnal landscape, intended to evoke the confusion of Albano's desperate vision. The disillusioned idealist sees all that is great and solid falling continuously into disorder; he is obsessed with the mutable and the transient, lending the stillness of night a sinister, mocking aspect.