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Philip Melville Courtney
Neptune and Triton En Grisaille Oil Painting by Philip Melville Courtney

2025

$7,500
£5,695.61
€6,543.18
CA$10,573.23
A$11,241.53
CHF 6,079.08
MX$133,721.43
NOK 76,149.12
SEK 69,546.80
DKK 48,879.83

About the Item

This en grisaille oil on canvas by American artist Philip Melville Courtney presents a masterful reinterpretation of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s celebrated marble Neptune and Triton (1622–1623), one of the great sculptural achievements of the Baroque period and now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Rendered entirely in nuanced shades of grisaille, Courtney translates Bernini’s dynamic marble group into paint with extraordinary sensitivity to form, light, and musculature. Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, rises with commanding authority, trident poised, while Triton strains below him, conch shell raised in a moment of breath and action. The figures appear to surge upward from the sea, their powerful anatomy and flowing drapery animated through subtle tonal modulation rather than color, allowing structure, movement, and sculptural volume to take center stage. This work exemplifies Courtney’s distinctive practice—sculpture rendered in oil—merging the worlds of figurative sculpture and figurative painting into a compelling new genre of classical expression. Drawing from the finest examples of ancient and Baroque art, the artist removes these timeless forms from a purely museum context and reintroduces them into contemporary life, where they can be lived with, contemplated, and enjoyed daily. The result is a painting that feels both scholarly and immediate, reverent yet unmistakably modern. Evoking the spirit of the Grand Tour, this piece speaks directly to collectors and connoisseurs who value mythology, strength, and idealized beauty, as well as impeccable draftsmanship and technical mastery. The restrained palette heightens the sense of drama and physicality, emphasizing sinew, gesture, and the eternal tension between power and grace. Framed in a narrow black floater frame, the painting is given a crisp, modern presentation that enhances its classical subject matter, making it equally suited to minimalist, modern, transitional, or traditional interiors. This is a sophisticated and intellectually engaging work—an invitation to experience ancient beauty anew, brought vividly into the present moment.
  • Creator:
    Philip Melville Courtney (1962, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2025
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Palm Beach, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2927217515692

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