DELABY

PHILIPPE DELABY MURENA Revenge of the Ashes (T.8), Dargaud 2010 Original plate #30 accompanied by its coloring in the hand of Jérémy Petiqueux (signed). India ink on paper 37.2 × 52 cm (14.65 × 20.47 in.) No one better than Delaby has achieved such delicate verism, multiplying details without ever detracting from the readability of the page. Here, the emperor Nero walks incognito through the streets of Rome, devastated by the great fire that was to ravage the city. The moment is crucial: Lucius Murena realizes that the emperor, whom he hates more than anything in the world, was there, within his reach, and even at his mercy. But the moral sense takes over: he does not have the inhumanity of the one who massacred the Christians of Rome. This dilemma is beautifully expressed in a low angle shot at the bottom of an excavation that could be his tomb.