“Gregorian chants play softly and a curl of incense drifts high into the air at Garry Shead’s studio in Bundeena on the coast of the Royal National Park.
“For almost five months, Shead, one of Australia’s best-known figurative painters, has been grappling with a new series based on Dante Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy. Invoking the spirit of the 700-year-old poet has been “terribly difficult”. He grimaces as he recalls stepping up to the blank canvas every morning, regardless of whether he felt like it or not.” […] –Ali Gripper, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 12, 2014
“This romantic and imaginary landscape is filled with palm trees, temples, tombs, ruins of previous civilizations, and an array of active figures. The benefits of peace are evident in the tranquil integration of philosophy, the exchange of knowledge, the visible signs of trade and commerce, and the arts of dance, music, and representation. Cropsey emphasized that this invented view of the ancient world expressed his belief that Christianity was historically inevitable. The shepherd with his goats in the lower left is a direct reference to Christ guarding his flock while the lion, boy, and lamb carved on the monument on the round temple allude to the Old Testament prophecy that the kingdom of peace, brought into being by the Messiah, would be a place of ‘no violence or destruction in God’s creation, even in the animal kingdom. Natural enemies will no longer be enemies. The food chain will be unchained.’ (Isaiah 11:6)” 
