DAVID MAYERNIK
LTD.
Narratives & Allegories
What narrative painting demands of the figurative artist is not only the capacity to invent figures and scenes without recourse to the staged model, but more importantly that Idea that Bernini prized as the essence of the artistic act. The mythological, allegorical, and sacred stories can still be told and retold with novel interpretations: for example, my paintings of Apollo & Daphne choose a psychological moment after Daphne's transformation, evoking Apollo's remorse and Peneus' reproach. This is a wholly new take on the story, yet rooted in the tradition.
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The pinnacle of narrative painting in the Renaissance was mural painting, especially buon fresco. I have painted frescoes for almost thirty years, having studied with renowned restorer Leonetto Tintori.
The novelty in painting doesn’t mainly consist in a subject never before seen, but in a good and new arrangement and expression, such that from being ordinary, and old, it becomes unique, and new.
—Nicholas Poussin quoted in G. P. Bellori, Le vite dei pittori