"The Refugees"is an original mixed-media work on paper by Philip Gladstone
About: The Refugees is an original, expressive mixed-media 'mashup' of iconic imagery and references, created to suggest a mysterious story with emotional resonance for the artist; the composition features most prominently a portion of Pompeo Batoni's 1773 painting "Return of the Prodigal Son" [view on Wikipedia↗] juxtaposed with Jacques-Louis David's 1880 oil study "Patroclus" [view on Wikipedia↗]
Made with watercolor, pen-and-inks, colored pencils and Windsor & Newton pigmented markers with touches of iridescent gold inks (in the margins) and sgraffito (scraping) on clay-coated paper
Provenance: Sold by the artist to a private California collection, 2018; re-acquired from the late collector's estate by Philip Gladstone Studio, 2023
Signed by the artist with his monogram cipher (PG) and dated "2018", lower right; signed again with the artist's full name and inscribed with the title on the reverse