Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002)

Painting would benefit from a light clean. Hairline crack in upper left corner visible in catalogue illustration has been retouched and strengthened from reverse. Otherwise in good overall condition. Colors of original slightly paler and brighter than catalogue illustration.
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Souza rather than viewing the Church as a benevolent place of refuge grew up in awe of its imposing architecture and the ritual grandeur of its services and suspicious of the hypocrisy of its leaders. 'The mystery of a religion profoundly felt and feared when it intruded into the idyllic world of beauty and innocence seems to have failed him in its promise of redemption. A man possessed by religious symbols, he portrays the vessels of the redemptive sacrifice of the Mass in an endless succession of still-lifes, which do communicate the tranquillity he seeks. The Latinism of Roman Catholicism which the Portuguese introduced with fire, hell and brimstone, the flagellations, are combined with a sort of rhythmic dance which only a combination of deep rooted tradition can bring... the artist has indeed made of his art a sacred rite, surrendering himself and his talent to a ceaseless search for being. In this attempt, he reaches out to symbols as used in the earliest form of Christianity. ' (Maria Aurora Couto, "Souza: In communion with Goa," The Hindu, Sunday April 7,2002).

The current work depicts Christ crowned with thorns, but interestingly Souza chooses to make the thorns the central compositional element of the painting, so that the thorns not only crown his head but also like his figures of Saint Sebastian pierce his neck like arrows. The composition as with many of the period is reminiscent of Byzantine icons.

'Souza's treatment of the figurative image is richly varied. Besides the violence, the eroticism and the satire, there is a religious quality about his work which is medieval in its simplicity and in its unsophisticated sense of wonder. Some of the most moving of Souza's paintings are those which convey a spirit of awe in the presence of a divine power-a God, who is not a God of gentleness and love, but rather of suffering, vengeance and terrible anger. In his religious work there is a quality of fearfulness and terrible grandeur which even Rouault and Sutherland have not equaled in this century.' (Edwin Mullins, Francis Newton Souza, London, 1962, p. 40).