Formerly, this painting by Duke Mitchell provided the background for the photographic portraits of academicians made during the Court Painter Residency at the Royal West of England Academy of Art. Now cut into five separate canvases, reworked as a pentaptych and updated for 2022, it looks to represent both the constant growing and dying flora (plants and flowers) and the theatre of fauna (animals) within a garden. When fully assembled it is an altarpiece to what one might call ‘gardening as method’.

Pineapple Broom Wallpaper (170 x 100 cm) Oil and thread on canvas

Strawberry Ronaldo (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion and thread on canvas

Night Moves (Hot Pink Roses) (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion and paint pens on canvas

Spanish Foxgloves & Tails (170 x 100 cm) Oil and thread on canvas

Blue (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion, paint pens and thread on canvas