THE LORDS OF THE FOREST
Our selection of paintings and ancient paintings of animals wants to offer suggestive glimpses on the life of these extraordinary beings, the deer, and on that of their neighbors, the roe deer, crossing the various seasons that form the background of their journey.
Roe deer – Bronze statuette
Item on the way
In winter, the snow protects nature with a silent mantle. The sight of a deer, busy grazing some dry grass or some berries, or removing the bark from trees, is almost a magical apparition, an evanescent mirage that disappears in a few moments with the rapidity of a flicker, as soon as our breath gets just a little stronger to alarm him and make him flee into the thick of the woods. While everything around us is silent asleep, these mighty animals, undisputed lords of the forest, are the only ones to remain vigilant guardians of that silent nature until the first warmth of the sun.
Spring arrives and the meadows are timidly filled with small flowers, the days become brighter. In the mountains, the forest awakens, and all the animals slowly leave the winter torpor to populate the clearings again. The period of rebirth begins; the fawns will soon give birth to their young, and while waiting they find safe, peaceful places in which to spend the gestation, while the adult males gather in herds, spending the summer waiting for the autumn that will bring with it a new mating season. On a suspended morning, their powerful and fast run makes the earth tremble violently for a few moments; the wood seems to watch motionless and admired as they pass, and then plunge again into its silent warmth, into the rays of the sun that advance among the leaves, into the dewy buds ready to unfold.
Albert Holz – Roe Deer
Painting on the way
Together with the moon, he saw a deer at dawn.
Nikifòros Vrettàkos