Ceri Richards (1903-1971)

In March 1946 Richards read an essay in the Horizon magazine by Henri Matisse in which he expounded the virtues of looking to other civilisations, both past and present, in order to break the influences of one's immediate cultural surroundings. He highlighted Cézanne drawing inspiration from Poussin. For Richards this confirmed his own approach to the history of art which was for him ever relevant to one's experience within the here and now, and with this in mind, he turned to the paintings of Rubens and Delacroix.

In The Rape of the Sabines, painted in 1635, by Rubens, Richards found empathy with this classical story, made respectable through Renaissance painting. He recognised the themes of intense violation and consequential reconciliation and rejuvenation as having particular resonance in post-war Britain.