Marengo at Waterloo – 2013

Oil on canvas – 122 x 91cm

The skeleton of Napoleon’s horse Marengo captured at Waterloo in 1815. A much treasured battle trophy, the horse was brought back to England and when it died (c1831) was preserved and is on show at the national Army Museum at Chelsea in London. It is here portrayed waiting on Platform at Waterloo Tube Station. A combination of symbols both signifying the final defeat and overthrow of Napoleon.

The presence of the horse albeit in skeletal form on a railway platform relates to the superceding of the horse by steam power at the Fin De Siecle and can be interpreted as a nostalgic reminder of the current fast-paced technological developments, which almost upon their production, create auto-redundent objects.

The time on the station clock 11:55 could perhaps refer to the imminence of the metaphoric bewitching apocalyptic hour.