Arlo Valley, Merrick Fry, 2021
Recently, I finished this painting entitled ‘Arlo Valley’. I began this painting in 2003 while I was interested in the relationship between Leonardo DaVinci as a child and his mother, Catarina. My thoughts were around my own mother and how close I was to her. I was a difficult and emotional child with bouts of bad temper, while she was always patient and supportive of my creative endeavours. I exhibited other works about Leonardo and Caterina in the exhibition a Quadrocentro Narrative, however I could not resolve this painting at the time.
All of the work Leonardo produced with mother and child as a subject are sensitive and emotionally charged. Yet, we read very little about this in the history books. Catarina was a farm girl and it was arranged for her to marry someone more in her social class. There is no record of Leonardo ever visiting her after this or mentioning her in his correspondences. I feel he deeply missed his mother and he used his work as a way to express it.
In this painting ‘Arno Valley’, I have included Leonardo’s uncle Francesco. Leonardo was said to have been very close to his uncle and rides up the hill on his ‘Hobby Horse’ to meet him. The composition was inspired by Leonardo’s earliest known drawing (Landscape of the Arno River and Valley, 1473). In my view, this early drawing seems to be influenced by early Chinese painting as the spacing and calligraphic mark making are so similar.
While Leonardo’s drawing was the start of my narrative, the landscape in the valley became more Australian as the painting progressed. The trees in the foreground remain Italian. I introduced a tower into the painting as a spatial transition was needed to lead the viewer from the valley up towards the mountain. While this Islamic tower behind Franceso may seem improbable, there is historic evidence for the presence of Islamic scholars in Italy at this time.
In my narrative work I enjoy the freedom to create my own world of possibilities. Do all these ideas come together? It's for others to decide. It's a story from many potential and imagined realities and I hope I have unified the work enough for the viewer to enjoy the story.
Leonardo’s first known drawing, 1473