Photo Courtesy of Hermes
Pégase is always a favourite character in the Hermès art world. Over the years, Hermès has launched numerous products related to Pégase, such as the Rodeo Pégase leather bag charm, Pégase change tray, Le Pégase d’Hermes shawl, Les Facéties de Pégase scarf, Pégase pop scarf and Herbag, Pégase Paysage scarf and La Sauce de Pégase scarf etc.
Photo Courtesy of Hermes
In the second half of 2022, the luxury French Maison surprises their scarf collector with its latest scarf Les Ailes de Pégase 100. The scarf was designed by the Corsican artist Camille Pozzo Di Borgo (Instagram: camillepozzodiborgo) for the Autumn/Winter 2022 men’s collection. The scarf title “Les Ailes de Pégase” means “The Wings of Pegasus” in English. The Hermès catalogue briefly described the carré as follows: “He is one of the most famous mythological creatures in the Greek pantheon, a friend of the muses, son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. Here, Pegasus spreads his wings in movements that blend with his flowing mane. To draw the delicate muscles of this fantastical horse, Camille Pozzo Di Borgo drew inspiration from comparative anatomy books, as well as from real Irish Cob horses discovered in a small stable not far from her home. She has adopted their spirit and introduced it into her own swirling composition, using layers of transparency with delightful dreamlike effects.”
Photo Courtesy of Hermes
In Greek mythology, Pegasus was the legendary winged divine stallion and was usually depicted as pure white in colour. He was one of the two children of Poseidon and Medusa. Poseidon was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, the god of the sea, earthquakes, storms and horses. Medusa was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair.
Photo Courtesy of Hermes
Pegasus was an immortal horse that sprang from the blood of Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Later, he served the god Zeus as the carrier of his lightning bolts. Pegasus always stayed with Zeus, even when the enemy fought very hard. As a reward for Pegasus' loyalty and bravery, Zeus placed him in the sky as a constellation. Pegasus is also a symbol of literary creativity and poetic inspiration.
It is believed that one of the techniques the artist applied to the artwork is the drypoint technique. Drypoint, etching, engraving, aquatint and mezzotint are the five metal-plate printmaking techniques of the intaglio family. The drypoint technique has been used since the early 1600s, the artists usually scratch the image directly onto the surface of the plate with a sharply pointed instrument such as an etching needle or a diamond-pointed needle. Drypoint plates can be made in copper, zinc, acrylic, plexiglass or polycarbonate etc. As the image is incised into the surface of the plate, the lines and burrs appear. Once the desired amount of ink is removed, the incised line or sunken area holds the ink which is transferred to dampened paper or cloth under pressure, mostly by rolling through a press.
On the scarf Les Ailes de Pégase, the Pegasus was deformed into an Irish Cob horse, the upstroke movement of a pair of wings and the animation effect of its left wing’s motion. With the drypoint technique, the artist superimposed these three layers of images onto this art piece.
The realistic horse has generous eyes, the signature Irish Cob horse’s abundance of mane and dense leg hair. A pair of wings with incredible details were emphasised by the artist and placed on the top layer. They were arranged in a V-shape and embraced the Cob horse at the centre.
The motion path animation effect was added to the bottom layer, it tells the effective flying movement of Pegasus’s left wing. The soft covert feathers also acted as the horse hair and skin, they covered the Irish Cob horse’s chin groove, throat larch, neck and jugular groove. The primary feathers extended to two corners on the left to provide a faint background.
One group of diagonal lines are formed by Pegasus’s head, hair whorl, jaw, chest and wings from upper left to bottom right. Another group of diagonal lines formed by its mane, wings, forearm and hair on its legs form from upper right to bottom left. With the light shining from the upper right direction, the interlaced groups of lines created a multilayer illusion effect from light to dark, from far to near.
By using transparency in this masterpiece, the artist Camille Pozzo Di Borgo successfully created the legendary Pegasus in flying motion. The art pieces seem to tell the story of the moment when Pegasus became a constellation. The art piece also reflects the spirits of Pegasus and the Irish Cob horse - determination, endurance, valour, freedom and majesty.
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Hermès Scarf Les Ailes de Pégase
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