LeChuck in Feathered Hat Holding a Pin — Print & Oil Painting

Nothing behind him at all. A flat wall of teal, scumbled and a little grubby, the sort of ground a studio photographer would roll down for a formal sitting, with the figure posed in front of it from the belt up as though having his likeness taken for the family.

What is standing there is a corpse. Green skin pulled tight and cracking over the bone, yellow eyes with black pinpricks, no nose, and a grin held in place by teeth that no longer have gums to sit in. Black hair falls to the chest. The hat is a broad tricorn with a skull and crossbones badge, a long dark plume, and a brim that has clearly been stitched back together more than once.

The clothes are magnificent and rotten at the same time: a red coat with wide cuffs and rows of dulled brass buttons, a dark waistcoat under it, a black belt with a heavy square buckle. The handling is soft and slightly powdery throughout, with no hard edge left on any of the metal, which suits a body that is coming apart.

The hands are the subject. In one, raised and held back between two fingers, a long pin takes a highlight down its entire length. In the other, cradled against the coat, a small burlap doll with two crossed stitches for eyes and a teal jacket, waiting. He is smiling and he is in no hurry. Part of our Monkey island collection, next to the moment the pin goes in and the same scene played out on deck.