Sir Bedivere

1983. Oil on canvas. 90x96in / 228x243cm. Collection of The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.

Bedivere was the last of King Arthur’s knights left alive after the final battle of Camlann. He can not bring himself to throw the sword Excalibur into the Lake, although ordered by the King to do so. Twice he lies. When the King asks him what he had seen, he replies, “Only the water lapping at the banks”. When he finally complies, a hand rises from the water to take the sword.
It was Bedivere’s refusal that interested me, where the sword can be seen as an emblem of the history and richness of Painting itself. CLB

See also Shield 1982-84.