Description
Artist/Maker: Vasilios Roumeliotis (b. 1977) / Roumelight
Object/Materials and Techniques: Engraved Metal Canvas
Date: Created in 2019
Dimensions:H. 96 cm. x W. 11 cm. x L. 74 cm.
Colours: Champagne gold
Art style: Light art / Luminism / Lighting sculpture / Industrial design
Current Location: Artist’s collection, Mykonos
Curator’s note: ‘Ancient Motifs, Endless Source of Inspiration’
Reflecting the sublime artistry of the first advanced civilization in whole Europe, the unsurpassed Minoan civilization on the Hellenic island of Crete -which is considered to be the most important Bronze Age Aegean civilization- the Prince Of The Lilies lighting piece from the extensive Roumelight lighting collection proves that the Ancient Hellenic perfectionism of the time still keeps on inspiring creatives today.
More specifically, bridging the breadth between diverse aesthetic and artistic approaches, the Prince Of The Lilies luminous piece demonstrates how the theme of one of the most renowned Minoan frescos that dates back to Late Minoan IA by Sinclair Hood, circa 1550 BC (in the Neo-palatial / New Palace Period 1700-1450 BC) may resourcefully be reimagined and reconfigured by a contemporary artistic brand, keeping synchronously in line with a glorious past.
In this sense, ‘providing an opportunity’ for the Lily Prince to re-assume a posture as for today’s artistic purposes, he appears holding a watering pot and supplying with water a plant. The lighting piece is designed so as a small pot of diameter 11cm to fit inside carrying any kind of plant, either a lily or any other living flower or even a plant imitation.
This piece belongs to the Minoan Light series, and calls attention to the renowned and insuperable Prehistoric Hellenic Minoan civilization.
Occupying an upstanding place between functional lighting and art, Roumelight’s strong conceptual practice and fresh perspective, as applied in the Prince Of The Lilies luminaire, expands upon the indelible sense of the Minoan prominent art and the character of Minoan life and ‘joie de vivre’. As a result, a new playful object of desire is generated from one of the most familiar iconographies in Archaeology and History of Art.
Installation notes:
- Prince Of The Lilies may be customized in different sizes and colouration, upon request.
- Technical support for assembling or hanging the lighting work is recommended.
- Instructions by the artist may be provided.
Notation:
The Prince of the Lilies, or the Lily Prince or Priest-King Fresco, is the figure of a celebrated Minoan painting image excavated in pieces from the palace of Knossos, capital of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on the Greek island of Crete. It constitutes one of the smaller group of ‘relief frescos’ or ‘painted stuccos’, as the original parts of the image are built up in plaster before being painted. Fresco painting was one of the most important forms of Minoan art.
The Prince of the Lilies fresco is dated to Late Minoan IA by Sinclair Hood, circa 1550 BC (in the Neo-palatial / New Palace period between 1750 and 1500 BC). It was probably removed from its wall deliberately during rebuilding or renovating the palace.
There have been a number of different suggestions from archaeologists as to the appearance of the original image.
A reconstruction with the original pieces is now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum (AMH), while a replica version that includes flowers in the background being at the palace.
Bibliographic References:
- Sinclair Hood, The Arts in Prehistoric Greece, Penguin (Penguin/Yale History of Art), 1978, ISBN 0-1405-6142-0.
- Sinclair Hood, The Minoans, 1971, image 43.
- Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess: A Near Eastern Koine, University of Illinois Press, 2010, ISBN 9-7802-5203-3926, 0-2520-3392-2.
- Arthur Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Book 1 page 8, 272.
