Oil on canvas

A work which formed part of a showing of works in Vagrancy II shown 29 January - 30 April 1996 at The Barbican Museum and Library Annexe, 19 Citadel Ope, The Barbican, Plymouth.

This study, structured loosely on ‘The Burial of Count Orgaz’ by El Greco, relates in atmosphere and design to KINDERTOTENLIEDER (Songs on the Deaths of Children) a cycle of five orchestral songs (1901-4), by Gustav Mahler. The poems were written by Friedrich Ruckert after the death of his two children. The fifth poem: - ‘In this grim weather’ - transformed by Mahler, is of exquisite beauty. The central pillar of figures in the Deposition, relate to the remarkable transition from bitter irony to unsentimental acceptance so movingly expressed by Mahler.