Equestrian Bridge

This work is an absurdist commentary on the overriding masculine ego of seventeenth-century Spanish portraiture. Diego De Velazquez’s ‘Pedro de Barberana y Aparregui’ (c.1632) is the principal subject, with background elements copied from an earlier Italian work, Veronese’s ‘Martyrdom of St Justina’ (c.1573). The ensuing figure-ground environment and chaotic landscape threaten to obliterate the initial identity of the subject entirely.