I am specially fascinated by the panels of the lions with the false perspective of the trompe l’oeil, and I sometimes feel a little bit like Cezanne with regard to Poussin, and I would like to do over again those panels, those trompe l’oeil, on nature.. I must have been influenced by these two panels when I painted two pictures of animals in space, in a particular space: one was a prisoner…
Sutherland was hugely inspired by the dynamic design and sculptural elements incorporated into the façade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice. The present work relates in particular to the sculpted lions emerging from the façade on either side of the main doorway. Destroyed by fire in 1485, the Scuola Grande was rebuilt to an initial design by Pietro Lombardo and later completed by Mauro Codussi with the lunette above the main door likely designed by Bartolomeo Bon. Lombardo worked on the lower façade with his sons Tullio and Antonio and the two marble reliefs of lions were incorporated as symbols of the evangelist.
In taking the compositional arrangement of the marble reliefs as inspiration for the present work, the actual form of the animal was inspired by a shape he experienced in Kent which was reminiscent of a hippopotamus. The chains on its front ankles were in turn inspired by Goya’s drawings of prisoners and Sutherland has presented The Captive as if prisoner in a dark space with barred windows which provides a dynamic background contrast to the rich tones of the animal’s form, its curves heightened with bold impasto which gives an almost sculptural effect.