Kent Monkman b. 1965

Private Collection, Toronto

Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto

This painting has been viewed under UV and it is in pristine condition.
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In Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was a handsome young man, the pride of Sparta, and so much admired by Apollo that he left his temple at Delphi to play sports and hunt with him. One day, Apollo and Hyacinth were vying to see who could throw the discus farthest, when Apollo's throw inadvertently struck Hyacinthus on the head. Apollo was unable to heal the wound and Hyacinthus died. From his spilled blood, Apollo made a flower, the hyacinth.

Kent Monkman has translated this myth into a new setting. Monkman based his painting, with marvelous wit and slightly impish humour, on a 19th century painting by Jean Broc. His Apollo and Hyacinthus, however, are based on George Catlin's renderings of Aboriginal lacrosse players with a nod to Tiepolo's Death of Hyacinthus, where the deadly blow was dealt from a tennis match.

An artist of Cree ancestry, Monkman has had major works acquired in recent years by leading public galleries, including the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum London, The Glenbow Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, The Mackenzie Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.