Description

I painted this when I was living in Connecticut, USA, and while I had a model for the female figure I had none for the male so I dug out my Thin Lizzy photo file (I did a lot of artwork for Irish band Thin Lizzy around that period) and drew on guitarist Scott Gorham as inspiration –the likeness has often been spotted by Lizzy fans and I have a laugh when they tell me they have copped the similarity. Never mentioned it to Scott. Yet!

The painting illustrates an episode in my book ‘The Book of Conquests’, published in 1978 and depicts the fateful tryst between Nuada of the Silver Arm, king of the mystical Tuatha Dé Dannan, and his war-goddess lover, the Mórrigán, a sorcerous shapeshifter. She is here in human form to seduce Nuada and extract his secrets and plans for battle.