"Hypatia Contemplating a Bust of Plato" by Sanford Drob, Oil on linen
"The Murder of Hypatia," by Sanford Drob, Oil on linen
The Murder of Hypatia/Death of the Anima Triptych
reflects upon the brutal assassination of the one female philosopher
who is known to us from antiquity, Hypatia of Alexandria. According to
the account of Socrates Scholasticus, Hypatia, who taught in Alexandria
Egypt in the 4th century, was kidnapped by an angry mob of men and
brought to a Church called Caesareum,
where she was stripped and brutally murdered with tiles. The triptych
raises the question of men’s intolerance of an intellectual woman, and
the intolerance of the feminine within themselves. The first panel
depicts Hypatia Contemplating a Bust of Plato, and the second, The Murder of Hypatia depicts the kidnapping prelude to her assassination. The final painting, Hypatia’s Mirror,
is a self-portrait of the artist in a mirror held by Hypatia subsequent
to her murder, and graphically depicts the artist’s own reflection upon
his attitudes toward the feminine. The viewer is, in effect, invited to
look into “Hypatia’s Mirror” as well. Further images and discussion of The Murder of Hypatia/Death of the Anima Triptych can be accessed at hypatiapainting.blogspot.com.
"Hypatia's Mirror" by Sanford Drob, Oil on Linen
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