The Rape of the Sabines - David (12/75)
Artist
Robert Ballagh
(b. 1943)
Date1973
MediumScreenprint on paper
Dimensions50.1 x 61.7 cm
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery.
Purchased, 1975.
Object number1391
DescriptionThis is a ten colour screenprint on paper of a painting by Robert Ballagh, which was adapted from the famous work by Jacques Louis David (1798-1863) entited 'The Intervention of the Sabine Women' (1799, oil on canvas, 385 x 522 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris).Together with Ballagh's adaptations of works by Goya and Delacroix, the painting forms part of a series, which refers directly to events in Northern Ireland. In interview in 1979, the artist explained that he adapted these images into a poster style, by simplifying them and keeping the original composition. "…the lines that I drew were kept a constant thickness so that they would not have any personal expressive quality. In other words, the lines could never be gestural or in any way romantic."
Ballagh studied architecture before beginning to paint in earnest around 1967 when he assisted Micheal Farrell with an important mural commission for the National Bank, College Green. Ballagh's own work from that time embraces the abstract idiom. He later found that too restricting and changed to figurative imagery, which characterises his work to-date and he is best-known for his portraits and self-portraits. He is also a noted graphic designer, photographer and designer of stage sets.
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