This wonderful artwork by Briton Riviere, a late nineteenth century British artist, is an oil on canvas.
It was purchased by an Australian art gallery from Riviere himself ten years after it was completed.
As already stated this piece is entitled Requiescat which is taken from the Latin phrase Requiescat in Pace. We very rarely, if ever, see this wording written in its correct form as it is anglicised and now appears as Rest in Peace or shortened even further to R.I.P.
The new term became common on the tombs of Catholics in the eighteenth century, for whom it was a prayerful request that the soul should find peace in the afterlife which is a surprise to me as I thought that it actually meant the body of the deceased should lie in peace as apposed to the persons soul. Other variations of the term Requiescat include “Requiescat in pace et in amore” meaning "May she rest in peace and love", and “In pace requiescat et in amore”.
The artwork depicts a fourteenth century armoured medieval knight lying on top of a wooden bed and blue floral-patterned bedspread while a bloodhound gazes sadly up at him.