03 works, Today, November 3rd, is Saint Odrada's day, her story illustrated #305

Michael Parkes

The Dark Unicorn

Original Drawing

15 1/2" x 9 1/4"

Private collection

Michael Parkes is the world's leading magical realist painter, sculptor, and stone lithographer.  His first one-man show was in Amsterdam back in 1977.   Additional one-man exhibitions of Michael Parkes have taken place at Basel Art in Switzerland, Art Chicago, Art Fair NY, Frankfurt Bookfair, Amsterdam Art Fair, Tefaf Art and Antiques Fair Maastricht and numerous exhibitions in their galleries in Amsterdam and New York from 1977 onwards.

Earlier on, Michael Parkes had painted in the generally Abstract Expressionist style normal among his teachers, but after his pause for reflection he began to draw and paint in a meticulous style of detailed representation which would enable him to give full expression to his inner world of images.

Michael Parkes has studied deeply in esoteric doctrine of the East and the West, and his imagery is drawn from a range of wisdoms including the Cabalistic and the Tantric, but embodied in forms from his own imagination which are immediately accessible. 

Even as a student Michael Parkes was fascinated by various graphic processes, and in recent years Michael Parkes has become highly proficient in the difficult medium of the colour stone lithograph. More on Michael Parkes

Odrada van Alem (also: Odrada van Balen ) is a saint who is said to have been buried in Alem.

The life of Odrada, who is said to have died at a young age in the 8th century, is mainly based on legends. She is said to have been born in Scheps in the Antwerp Kempen, near Balen. This noble girl wanted to devote herself entirely to God. When her mother died, a stepmother came into the house, who worked against her in everything. Because of this she languished and died at a young age.

The legends below contain elements from other legends, such as that of the unicorn, which can only be tamed by a virgin.

One of the legends is that Odrada wanted to attend a church consecration in Millegem. Her father and stepmother took the available mounts, so she had no transport.  "Try to get hold of and tame one of the wild horses in the forest," was the hateful comment of her stepmother.

Unknown artist

Odrada tames a wild horse to go to church, c. 1800 

Sculpture

St. Andrew's Church .Belgium, Balen

She then made a cross of willow branches and walked into the forest. At the sight of the girl, the ferocious animals became as tame as lambs and knelt before her, so that Odrada could choose the most beautiful horse and still go to the party. Then a unicorn, which can only be approached by a virgin, broke free from the group and knelt before Odrada. Odrada mounted the steed and thus arrived on time at the consecration. 

There she put the willow branches in the ground, on which a well sprang up on the spot. The branches grew into a striking tree.

Her father then begged her forgiveness for what he had done to her, but the relationship with the stepmother deteriorated further. Because of this legend, Odrada is depicted with a unicorn as an attribute.

Another legend has it that, just before she died, Odrada asked her father to place her corpse in a hollow log on a wagon pulled by oxen. She would then like to be buried where the oxen stopped. Only in Alem aan de Maas in the Netherlands did the oxen stop, and where she was buried and where a church was founded on her grave. More on Odrada van Alem

Gillis van Tilborgh

Saint Odrada of Balen, c. 1654

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

Saint Odrada is depicted upright, with the horse lying on the bottom to her left. She is presented as a noble lady. She wears a robe, a shorter outer garment with fringes at the edge, a lobed breastplate at the bottom and a horizontal band in the middle; further a long tippet, held closed with a breast pin; on the head a diadem and a veil that hangs down on the right shoulder and left shoulder, connected in the breast pin. There is a pearl necklace around the neck. With the left hand she holds the reins of the horse that carries the reins and a bridle. More on this painting

Gillis van Tilborgh or Gillis van Tilborch (c. 1625 – c. 1678) was a Flemish painter who worked in various genres including portraits, 'low-life' and elegant genre paintings and paintings of picture galleries. He became the keeper of the picture collection of the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands and travelled in England where he painted group portraits.

Gillis van Tilborgh was likely born in Brussels. He is believed to have studied first under his father Gillis van Tilborgh the Elder and then with David Teniers the Younger. He became a master in the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1654. He was the dean of the Guild in 1663.

Van Tilborgh is known to have operated a sizable workshop in Brussels At around 1670 he travelled to England

The date and place of his death are not known but it was likely c. 1678 in Brussels. More on Gillis van Tilborgh

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