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Sweet Promise

Bellany, John, 1994, Oil painting
Sweet Promise
Sweet Promise
Sweet Promise
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Category
Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
20683
Title
Sweet Promise
Description
In both side panels the figures are standing in front of a window looking out onto views of a coast or port. In the festive central panel two figures are now ceremonially attired in white. The woman wears black stockings and her silhouetted figure is naked save for the swaddled baby she is holding to her side. She also wears a decorated scarf and a blue and white mackerel balanced on her head. In front of her the white robed and turbaned figure of the man confronts the viewer with impassive staring eyes.
To the right of the painting is a small cabin from which a ghostly face stares out.
This image is recognisable in the later 'Charon's Boat'. Here the title, 'Sweet Promise', roughly printed across a plank of the boat in front of the two figures, symbolizes their future hopes and aspirations. Around them perch a trio of embryonic sea birds.
Artist / maker
Date
1994
Location
City Art Centre
Accession number
CAC1995/5