Inspired by the ancient conception of the constellation as Septem Triones—the name from which the word “septentrion”, meaning north, derives—this work unfolds as a dialogue between astronomical tradition and painterly sensitivity. Positioned towards the setting sun, it suggests the onset of autumn and evokes the classical understanding of the heavens as a guide to nature’s cycles.
The artist’s imagination merges with ancient tradition, transforming the path of the stars into a symbolic trail of dry leaves. The painting’s colours move from the warm reds and yellows of summer to the deep, cold blues of winter, reinforcing this passage through time and emotion.
Espona reinterprets the constellation through a poetic lens, setting aside the scientific depiction of the six-star Mizar–Alcor system to focus on the alignment of its principal stars. Imagined as celestial oxen drawing a cosmic wagon—an allusion to Roman tradition—they turn tirelessly around the Pole Star, evoking a perpetual dance between myth and cosmos.
The work conveys a sense of circular motion, of an eternal journey through the stars, within a dreamlike atmosphere filled with nebulae and translucent forms. A fusion of astronomical knowledge and visual lyricism, it invites us to contemplate the heavens with the wonder of childhood and the wisdom of ancient traditions.
V. de Espona