Originally a drawing of 36” x 26” of 1974 and then an oil painting of 72” x 90” in the same year that explores one of the themes that permeate many of my paintings, that is the layers of history that can be seen or uncovered in one place of continuous habitation.
This particular view is based on the Roman Forum where literally and visually you can see the layers of history one above the other. The catalyst for this idea was my perambulations through the City of London since the age of ten in 1958, when the depredations of the Blitz had left holes in the townscape where archeologists found Medieval and Roman foundations that had survived amongst the foundations and concrete piles of later buildings.
In the 2005 painting, modern fanciful buildings can be seen in the background as well as a Medieval church tower.
This painting benefited from a trip to Rome in 2004 with the light of Rome being conveyed with a bright sense of colour. The wire fence and railings were a device to draw the viewer into the front of the picture. The division of buildings and the space between them gives an abstract structure to the picture.
In 1974 there was a gulf between the painting and drawing styles. By 2005 the drawing was incorporated into the painting style where I drew with paint, which kept the spontaneity of the drawing.
