All texts copyright Richard Shillitoe
attributes of the moon
1947
Oil on board.
33¾ x 13¼in. (86.5 x 34.2cm.)
Inscribed verso: ‘Ithell Colquhoun’, and the year.
Provenance
NT.
Exhibited
London, Mayor Gallery, 1947, (paintings), no. 20.
London, Redfern Gallery, 1947, no. 212.
Penzance, Newlyn Gallery, 1961, no. 22.
Exeter, City Art Gallery, 1972, no. 8.
Penzance, Newlyn Gallery, 1976, no. 22.
The female aspect of matter – philosophic mercury – is often depicted in alchemy as a queen or as the
moon. In Attributes of the Moon a female figure stands upon a crescent moon. She consists of cloudy,
billowy forms and wears a crown of ten silver spheres a reference to the ten sephirah of the Tree of
Life. The crown shows that she has authority over her domains. The lunar crescent under her feet
alludes to the astral world and to the cycles of time.
The decalcomania counterpart is also with the NT.