Leonora Carrington, Ab eo quod. 1956. Oil on canvas, 71.1 x 61 cm.
An embroidered fire screen bears the Latin words Ab eo quod nigram caudum habet abstine terrestrium enim decorum est, which is a fragment from the Asensus Nigrum, an obscure alchemical text from 1351. This roughly translates as: “Keep away from any with a black tail, indeed, this is the beauty of the earth.”
Susan L. Alberth, Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art (New York: Lund Humphries, 2004, p. 93.
(Source: strose.lunaimaging.com)
