About this artwork
This etching belongs to a series of portraits Bellany made that return to the imagery of Port Seton and the sea. Many of them are linked to his second wife, Juliet, and her death in 1985. Here a woman, possibly Juliet, is depicted wearing a cat-mask. Masks, and the use of use of symbolic attributes, are common features in Bellany’s work and are a characteristic he learned from Max Beckmann. The figure appears to be holding up a skate, exposing its underside, as if a sacrifice. Like many of Bellany’s compositions, along the bottom of the paper is text, in this case it appears to be a ship’s name ‘Sweet Promise’, perhaps a reference to the premature death of Juliet.
Updated before 2020
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artist:John Bellany (1942 - 2013) Scottish
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title:Sweet Promise
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date created:Dated 1986
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materials:Etching on paper (1/25)
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measurements:49.50 x 32.80 cm (paper 63.00 x 45.40 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1986
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accession number:GMA 3000
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gallery:
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subject:
John Bellany
John Bellany
Bellany was born in the fishing village of Port Seton, near Edinburgh. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art and at the Royal College of Art, London. His work of the 1960s and 1970s dealt with original sin, guilt, sex and death. His characteristic paintings are large compositions featuring his own...