The Oracle of Delphi (Signed) (Original)

Artist: Richard Hook
Medium: Gouache on Board
Size: 15" x 13" (370mm x 330mm)
Date: 1972
Signature: Signed by artist lower right
Code: HookRiddles

This is the Signed unique original Gouache painting by Richard Hook.

For centuries the world's great men came to Delphi to learn their future. All who asked were given an answer; but the value of the advice lay in its interpretation.

On holiday in Greece the Roman Emperor Nero asked to know his future. The priestess screamed at him that he had killed his mother and offended the gods. Further the number 73 would figure in his death.

Furious Nero had the woman killed and the oracle destroyed. He thought nothing of dying at 73 as he was only 30 at the time. However the very next year 68AD Nero was forced to commit suicide and he was replaced as Emperor by Galba who was 73 years old.

Originally published in Look and Learn #522 15th January 1972.

• Artist Biography
  Richard Hook (1938 - January 2010; UK)
  Richard Hook was born in 1938 and trained at Reigate College of Art. After national service with 1st Bn, Queen's Royal Regiment, he became art editor of the much-praised magazine Finding Out during the 1960s.
  
  He then went on to work as a freelance illustrator, earning an international reputation for his deep knowledge of Native American material culture.
  
  He provided many illustrations, predominantly scenes from British history and daily life, for Look and Learn magazine during the 1960s and 1970s and illustrated more than 50 titles for Osprey, contributing to these books for over 30 years. Sadly Richard passed away in January 2010.