Robert Griffiths Hodgins (South African, 1920-2010) Two From Babylon (2003/4)
Provenance : [Propriété non datée]
- Babylon is famed for being one of the largest cities of the ancient world - perhaps the first to have a population that exceeded 200,000
- As such, it has come to be a byword for cosmopolitan worldliness
- In the Christian tradition, it is characterised as a den of sin and material idolatry
- In the Book of Revelations, the city is personified as the 'Whore of Babylon'
- The Babylonian Empire's most famous monarch, King Nebuchadnezzar II, is described as 'the destroyer of nations' in the Book of Daniel
- He is responsible for the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the Siege of Jerusalem
- The conquering King is not only hungry for power and territory - he is also guilty of avarice
- In chapter three of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar orders his herald to make an announcement to all his subjects
- When the horn sounds, all must fall down and worship the image made of gold set up by the King
- Whoever does not worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace
- When Daniel and his fellow Christians refuse to fall before the idol, Nebuchadnezzar has them thrown onto a fire
- Hodgins' keen social conscience is evident in his paintings
- They satirise human greed, dishonesty, moral flabbiness, hypocrisy
- In this work, the artist appears to be questioning whether contemporary society is doomed to repeat the sins of ancient Babylon
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