Arthur Boyd’s ‘Tosca and Scarpia’ is a tale of grave manipulation. Its subject is Giacoma Puccinini’s opera ‘Tosca’, in which the corrupt Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia, blackmails his unrequited love, the diva Floria Tosca, into revealing the whereabouts of her lover and suspected abetterer Mario Cavaradossi. When Cabaradossi is captured, Scarpia offers Tosca a terrible ultimatum — she either submit herself to Scarpia, or her lover dies.

Throughout his career, Boyd turned recurrently to the subject of lovers. His lovers however, are never images of pure romance. Instead, they are pictured as victims to a reality underwritten by the darker potential of human nature. Love is always at risk. They twist, turn, fight, subsume and dissolve into one another.

An image of struggle, desire, injustice and poetry, ‘Tosca and Scorpio’ is a powerful work. It envisions the psychological ferocity of Puccinini’s play in rich golds, oranges and blues. Boyd was a foremost in Modernism and is represented in all state collections.

For collectors of important works on paper and Modernism, ‘Tosca and Scarpia’ is a riveting find.
  

Arthur BOYD (1920 - 1999)
'Tosca and Scarpia' 1992
etching on paper
Edition of 60
Image Size: 39 x 59 cm
Signed: Editioned and signed in margin: 47/60 Arthur Boyd
Availability: in stock
Condition: Image is in Fine condition.
© Arthur Boyd / Copyright Agency 2023