Rosy Fingered Dawn

As an undergraduate I was a Classics major and did a lot of translating from Latin and Greek, and I frequently use classical references in my paintings, both with regard to content and titles.

The title of this painting comes from Homer’s Odyssesy. It is what is called an epithet. Kind of like a precursor to a meme, an epithet is a descriptive phrase that is repeatedly used for a specific purpose. Every time the sailors set out to sea in the morning the phrase “rosy fingered dawn,” (which has also been translated “dawn with fingertips of rose”) is used to set the scene.

The painting is a tribute to the Odyssey as a metaphor for a journey each of us must take in his own way.