Jacqueline De Montaigne: Grace of Parnassus
Continuing the role out of worldwide talent, we brought over Jacqueline De Montaigne to add some wonderful portraiture to the city’s collection. Ben had worked with Jacqueline for about 5 years in the commercial gallery world and they had both been really keen to make this happen. Jacqueline said ‘I had been wanting to come and paint for Ben in Carlisle for many years and this wall could not be more perfect! I have always been slightly scared of the traditional british bricks as in Portugal i normally paint plaster walls, so this was ideal for my style’. Jacqueline’s delicate use of tone really comes to play here with subtle use of shading and colour; the piece looks graceful and almost ethereal. As a brush painter she mainly uses white masonry paint then mixes in acrylic or oils. All mixing was done onsite. Jacqueline also uses Portuguese Silver leaf in her work and this was applied in a halo-like circle around the face. The flowers featured in this piece are the grass of parnassus, the county flower of Cumbria. Ben says ‘I always find it interesting how the artists normally try to tie something of their work to the local environment to place it within the context. This time it was the flowers and the silver halo, which tied in nicely with the business that allowed us to use the wall which deals in scrap metals’. This piece like all others saw some amazing interactions with the public who came out in force rto show their love and support, jacqueline was really touched by all the well wishers, car horn beepers and deliveries of brownies!
This wall was made possible by
