 Nimue
Merlin
"Nimue Beguiling the Merlin"
64 x 30 inches
This painting is about love and betrayal.
The story of Nimue originates in ancient Celtic mythology, known to us through the King Arthur legends. Nimue learned sorcery from the Merlin of Britain.
In Medieval literature, Nimue (the Lady of the Lake) was the protégé of the Merlin, protector of Britain and advisor to King Arthur. Teaching her the secrets of magic, working and travelling with her day by day, the Merlin began to fall deeply in love with Nimue. As his obsession with her grew, Nimue became more and more afraid of him. In some versions she traded her love for his knowledge of magic, then used her power to trap him in the trunk of a tree.
In Malory's Morte d'Arthur, Nimue freed herself from Merlin by tricking him into going under a stone, then used her sorcerous art to trap him there forever. Because he was able to foresee the future, Merlin knew of his own death, but he was so smitten with Nimue that he was helpless to avoid it.
In The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Nimue was a young priestess who fell in love with the Merlin but was bound by duty to seduce and betray him to his death, after which she commited suicide. In this version the Merlin was closed in the lightning-split heart of an oak.
Please view details [Nimue] [Merlin] to appreciate the interplay between the characters. |
This painting is about dichotomy:
very warm reds and very cool blues,
male and female,
mastery and novicehood,
masculine strength and feminine guile,
innocence and evil,
love and treachery,
the visible and the unknowable. |
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Nimue
Merlin