Saint Patrick Original Drawing

Description

Saint Patrick Banishes the Serpents. Version 2. 1997. Pencil drawing. Size A3

Pencil drawing with wash on acrylic. Size A3 16″x11″(40x30cm). This was one of the preliminary sketches I created for the full color artwork of St. Patrick Banishes the Serpents.

In the pictures I’ve included the print made from this image and the original sketch this drawing came from.

The Drawing:

Back in 1997, I was commissioned to produce an image of Saint Patrick for colour reproduction ad a decorative ceramic plate for a major US company.

This image also was to be rendered in 3D as a sculpture for sale in limited editions.
The final image was the familiar Saint Patrick seen on my own website while this drawing was one of four or five alternate ideas with differing perspectives.

This is a very detailed final sketch in pencil and I added the colour later just for fun and to give it a little bit of the look of the old manuscripts.
The snakes were fun too, all mad, coiling and interweaving, echoing the knotwork on the final painting.

The snakes in this little myth were in fact not real (there were never any snakes in Ireland historically) but they were actually metaphors for the symbols of the old religion that predated Christianity and was more concerned with the spirit of the earth, the mother, and the sun, their one god.

The symbol of the rod with the intertwined snake was a symbol of the druidic order also and it came via migration from the Middle East. To Ireland in prehistoric times.
But that’s another story.

PS. By the way, it is well worth noting that the real Saint Patrick (Patricius) was long regarded as a heretic by the corrupt Roman Church for his tolerance of Druidic beliefs and practices and his habit of canonizing Celtic gods and goddesses into Christian saints. ?
We like to forget that these days.

Personal note:

For many years I wanted to draw or paint our National Saint but in a manner that reflected his true self; powerful, courageous, kind, tolerant and complex but determined to convert the native Irish he loved so much. I had always rejected the image I saw of him in Irish holy pictures or Oirish-American Patrick’s Day Parades as pure kitsch and more importantly quite misleading.

I had read his ‘Confessio’ in college and this was my man, a courageous, determined proselytiser who brought Christianity to a wild tribal people who loved raiding, reaving, enslaving, warring and, of course, headhunting, who liked nothing more than a good contest of champions and enjoyed a drink or two, or three. With their conversion, Christianity finally came to Ireland but via a very tolerant man who understood his flock and loved the Irish and their traditions so much he still allowed them to hold fast to their own ancient religion while embracing the new.

-Jim FitzPatrick.2018