No Fish Today

                                                   An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                                   18 X 24", unframed
                                                   $1,800.00, - ( plus $45.00, pack and ship )

                                                         ( Click on image to enlarge )

     This painting, of a courtyard fountain scene, is one from a series of fountain paintings
I have done, which feature the fountains of a well-known shopping district in Kansas City.
I have shown other paintings from this series in previous postings, such as Neptune 
Rising, A Sunrise Visitor, and Do The Mermaids Bring The Storms?, and I may show
more of them in future postings.
     Although the fountain itself features four little faun figures, which sit at the four corners
of a rectangular pool, I focused my composition on one end of the pool and two of the
figures.   The four fauns were purchased in Brindisi, Italy, in 1928, and there is some
evidence that they may have had a previous life as ornamental features of a Italian villa's
lighting fixtures. And, their years since their installation as a fountain have not been
uneventful.  The story is, that someone once managed to steal three of the fauns, but
the thief was unable to pry away the last one. It was that remaining faun which was used
to make a mold to cast the three, new replacements for the missing trio.
     Fauns, the mythological half-human, half-goat creatures, have been frequent subjects
for artists, writers and composers, from the time of the ancient Greeks right up through
the nineteenth century.  They were originally believed to be the manifestations of forest
and animal spirits, which could help or hinder humans, at their own whim.  The Romans
believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places.  But fauns
were also believed to be capable of guiding humans in need, as in the case of the ancient,
well-known fable of The Faun and the Traveler ( later called, The Satyr and the 
Peasant).   That fable was a popular subject for European artists for centuries.
     In the case of this painting, it is the cat I added to the scene, rather than a traveling
human, which appears to find the fauns companionable.  The title of the painting suggests
that the cat may be stopping by regularly, to check on whether the pool has been stocked
with goldfish, but he never has any luck.  No doubt there are a great many cats living in
the large, high-rise apartments surrounding the district, but it is unlikely that any of them
get to leave their buildings.  A cat which could visit that fountain regularly, would truly
need to have nine lives, in order to survive the run through all the heavy traffic.