Christopher Le Brun

The title of the present work Maro pays homage to the iconic Roman poet, Virgil, whose full Roman name was Publius Vergilius Maro. The fortuitous Latin palindromes of his name, ‘Roma’ (Rome) and ‘amor’ (love), make way for a luxuriant web of symbolism that the extraordinary artist Christopher Le Brun fully explores with his splendorous marble wing.

The ‘wing’ was throughout Roman and Classical epochs a timeless image of divine supremacy and preferment. Le Brun’s marble wing streams out of the earth, towering above its viewers, five metres high, the strong and weighty marble adding testament to the wing as a symbol of strength and elemental power.

Christopher Le Brun’s artistic output has long alluded to his strong attachment to the imagery and emotional address of Romanticism and Symbolism and, though primarily a painter, the present sculpture has garnered critical and public acclaim; a bronze version is installed in London near the Bank of England and a variation of the model faces the sea at St. Helier in Jersey. In recognition of his extraordinary work and knowledge, in 2011 Christopher Le Brun was elected the 26th President of the Royal Academy.