Temple of Melkor by Ted Nasmith
19 Sep, 2023
2023-9-19 9:34:42 PM UTC
2023-9-19 9:34:42 PM UTC
Latest work from Ted, seen in his social media spaces.
According to him “The Temple of Melkor. This is the newest commission from me. It measures about 19" x 17", gouache on board.
The challenge was to discern its likely look based on the reasonably detailed description Tolkien gives us. The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford is said to have inspired it, so I'm following that information with a stone 'drum' 500' in diameter by 500' tall. [That's roughly the equivalent of a 60 story tower by today's standards.] It's of course topped with a silvered metal dome through which the smoke of the sacrificial fires escapes at its zenith.
My thoughts on the treatment of it as follows: The temple in this scene is not long built, and we see a wagon pulled by prisoners piled with what was left of Nimloth, the White Tree of Armenelos. It's said that the escaping smokes from the Temple gradually stained the dome black, but especially following the burning of Nimloth. The temple was built upon a high place in Armenelos in Numenor. In my mind, in order to create such a monumental structure upon its high mound, either existing buildings were razed, or the land was a park from which there were commanding views of the lower city districts. I'm showing a suggested collection of nearby buildings, both to give the Temple scale, and to depict it within its surrounding imagined precincts.
For the colour scheme I was inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński, the famous modern Polish painter and photographer who inspired H. R. Giger's horror-art. The sky is a sickly ochre, tinged with hints of flesh-colours. The red opening to the Temple is deceptively narrow, but would be about 20' wide, easily accommodating the laden wagon. I considered possibly treating the stone as all-black, but decided on black columns and dark grey stone walls. Adding a few untended trees, and a mockery of the Two Trees at the Temple gate, were intended to increase the sense of death and despair.”
According to him “The Temple of Melkor. This is the newest commission from me. It measures about 19" x 17", gouache on board.
The challenge was to discern its likely look based on the reasonably detailed description Tolkien gives us. The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford is said to have inspired it, so I'm following that information with a stone 'drum' 500' in diameter by 500' tall. [That's roughly the equivalent of a 60 story tower by today's standards.] It's of course topped with a silvered metal dome through which the smoke of the sacrificial fires escapes at its zenith.
My thoughts on the treatment of it as follows: The temple in this scene is not long built, and we see a wagon pulled by prisoners piled with what was left of Nimloth, the White Tree of Armenelos. It's said that the escaping smokes from the Temple gradually stained the dome black, but especially following the burning of Nimloth. The temple was built upon a high place in Armenelos in Numenor. In my mind, in order to create such a monumental structure upon its high mound, either existing buildings were razed, or the land was a park from which there were commanding views of the lower city districts. I'm showing a suggested collection of nearby buildings, both to give the Temple scale, and to depict it within its surrounding imagined precincts.
For the colour scheme I was inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński, the famous modern Polish painter and photographer who inspired H. R. Giger's horror-art. The sky is a sickly ochre, tinged with hints of flesh-colours. The red opening to the Temple is deceptively narrow, but would be about 20' wide, easily accommodating the laden wagon. I considered possibly treating the stone as all-black, but decided on black columns and dark grey stone walls. Adding a few untended trees, and a mockery of the Two Trees at the Temple gate, were intended to increase the sense of death and despair.”
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