Zenobia (2023) Original Oil Painting by Nicolas Maureau

A queen who crowned her own son emperor and took the title of empress for herself: Zénobie, from the En Majesté series, portrays Zenobia of Palmyra, the third-century ruler who defied Rome, expanded her territory across Egypt and Syria, and lost everything when Aurelian's armies finally caught up with her.

Captured and paraded through Rome during her conqueror's triumph, she stands here in a metallic jacket that gleams like armour but offers no real protection, chains looped loosely around her wrists, worn less like a punishment than like jewellery, a mark of defeat that refuses to read as pure humiliation. Her coat still carries something of the rebel and the warrior she was before the chains.

Against the black background running through the whole series, no palace or column places her anywhere in particular, only a queen alone with what's left of her own myth, turquoise earrings the one quiet trace of where she came from.

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