Renaissance reborn

I thought of The Scapegoat by Holman Hunt, trembling knock-kneed in its parched desert, and the astonishing overhead light that gives such vertiginous energy to Manfred on the Jungfrau, by Ford Madox Brown, father of the Brotherhood.

It was only when I discovered Wekesa’s Italian connection that her true influences became clear to me. And of course, in one sense the backgrounds of Renaissance portraits are stage sets before which the central figure makes its bow.

An encouraging thing about Wekesa’s exhibition — apart from its sustained quality — was that many of the paintings were sold to Kenyans and not only to the expat buyers who are presumed to dominate the market.

The English Impressionist Walter Sickert once noted drily, “An Englishman likes a tune he can whistle,” which, it would seem, is true of Kenyans too.

Frank Whalley runs Lenga Juu, a fine arts and media consultancy based in Nairobi. Email: fwhalley@gmail.com