Ed Mell, b. 1952 Reaching Clouds Oil on Canvas 36 x 36 in.

Peter Curling, b.1955 Trying to Close Oil on Canvas 25 x 38 in.

The reclining subject of this particular work is Hebe, the goddess of youth who acted as the cupbearer for the gods on Mount Olympus. She was the daughter of Zeus and Hera and was betrothed to Hercules. The work clearly follows some of the main neoclassical precepts established by Canova and his followers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This is especially apparent in the smooth modeling of the flesh and the graceful configuration of the hands and face.