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The Two Queens

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I got a request on my Patreon to paint the Greek Goddess Despoine; She is a daughter of Demeter, and was worshipped in Arkadia as the principal Deity there.  She was the (fertility?) Goddess of a mystery cult; Her true name was known only to initiates and has not come down to us.  'Despoine' means simply 'Mistress.'   In Her sanctuary at Arkadia She was shown sharing a throne with Her mother Demeter; this reminded me both of a Mykenaean ivory carving showing two women seated together sharing a mantle and of the Anatolian Neolithic statuettes that show one (very abstract) Goddess with two heads.  I'm assuming this shows a mother and her grown daughter in a comment on the cyclical nature of womanhood, that the mother gives birth to the daughter who becomes the mother who gives birth to the daughter who becomes the mother who...

So I've shown both Demeter and Despoine here under one mantle, in Minoan style, to evoke both the Mykenaean statues, the Neolithic sculptures, and the description of Their statue in Arkadia, which was famously cut from a single block of stone that had been dug up out of the earth in response to a dream.

The title of 'The Two Queens' comes from an inscription from Pylos of two Goddesses worshipped there; whether that is Demeter and Despoine, or Demeter and Kore (or another pair) isn't known, but it parallels the Mykenaean statuette quite nicely.

The colors are taken from the limited palette of Minoan frescoes.  Ink, watercolor, and white gouache on toned paper.
Image size
3600x3600px 11.02 MB
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