DELABY

PHILIPPE DELABY MURENA Complete - First Cycle, Dargaud 2005 Original cover. Signed. India ink and colored inks on paper 76 × 46.2 cm (29.92 × 18.19 in.) Two covers of Murena are proposed here. The theme of one is discreet, while the other is more obvious. On one, imperial, we see Agrippina, in profile, indicating with a finger a direction to follow or an order to execute. The beauty of the decor, the motifs that Delaby worked on to the point of obsession, the finish of the detail being as important as the whole given off by these ornaments, are superimposed on the stature, the hieratic nature of the one who wanted to be interim empress. Nobleness and will are emanating from her appearance, with a relief and elegance that can only be created if one projects oneself inside the character, in the heart of her emotions and reactions. No coldness then in what can be called the classicism of a style. On the contrary, it takes its rights, in this approach of a reality crossed by the subjectivity of an interpretation. However, it requires a solid technical background, a technique that is gradually being lost in the field of comics to the benefit of a drawing more thrown away, more felt on an immediate emotion. Except that And this is a rare moment in the work of Delaby, this hand of Agrippina, the one that is shown to us, the one that stretches has 6 fingers. A rather unique distraction in his work and which made this cover a precedent, a must-have, a rare piece. Jean Dufaux