Electra (The Lost Star)

"One of the Pleiades, daughter of Atlas, mother of Dardanus. She is known as `the lost Pleiad,' for it is said that she disappeared a little before the Trojan war, that she might be saved the mortification of seeing the ruin of her beloved city. She showed herself occasionally to mortals, but always in the guise of a comet."
- Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia

Troy was known for its riches, gained from trade with east and west, fancy clothes, iron production. The Trojan royal family was started by Electra and Zeus.

Calgary is known for its riches, gained from trade with east and south, fancy house prices, oil production. Calgary doesn't have a royal family. With no war in sight, Electra has returned to claim her rightful place over the new Troy.

© William Pitcher 2006

36x54 inches pigmented ink print on canvas with several layers of varnish. The actual image size is 39x57 wrapped around the edges of heavy-duty stretcher bars. Meticulous attention has been paid to detail (see the close up below).

The Lost Pleiad
O! HOW calm and how beautiful--look at the night!
The planets are wheeling in pathways of light;
And the lover, or poet, with heart, or with eye,
Sends his gaze with a tear, or his soul with a sigh.

But from Fesole's summit the Tuscan looked forth,
To eastward and westward, to south and to north;
Neither planet nor star could his vision delight,
'Till his own bright Pleiades should rise to his sight.
They rose, and he numbered their glittering train --
They shone bright as he counted them over again;

But the star of his love, the bright gem of the cluster,
Arose not to lend the Pleiades its lustre.

And thus, when the splendor of beauty has blazed,
On light and on loveliness, how have we gazed!
And how sad have we turned from the sight, when we found
That the fairest and sweetest was "not on the ground."

From Poems of John Brainard / by John Brainard 1796-1828

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