Caligula as Mercury (2023) Original Oil Painting by Nicolas Maureau

Winged shoes on a young emperor's feet, a nod to a nickname that stuck for two thousand years: this is Caligula en Mercure, the very first work in the En Majesté series, showing Caligula taking on the appearance of Mercury to claim divinity in his own lifetime.

That desire to be worshipped as a god while still alive is one of the details that fed his dark legend, and the pose here borrows directly from ancient imperial statuary, the body arranged the way power has always arranged itself to be remembered. The winged sandals belong to Mercury, but they also point back to the emperor himself: Caligula means little shoes, a childhood nickname that followed a man who wanted nothing less than to be a god.

Between a soldier's boyhood joke and an emperor's claim to heaven, the painting sits exactly where the two refuse to separate.

Materials used:

oil painting

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 97 x 130 x 2cm / 97 x 130cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the back
• Style: Photorealistic
• Subject: People and portraits