Acrylic on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

A work depicting Death personified. She draws her name from the Etruscan/Roman Goddess Mania (Manea). Manea was the Goddess of Death, ruling over the Underworld with her husband Mantus. She was also the Goddess of Spirits and Chaos. She was said to be the mother of ghosts, the undead, and other spirits of the night.

I’ve included a number of symbolic elements :

The Calla Lillies are considered to be the flower most often associated with funerals. They’re not a morbid element though as they represent faith, purity and rebirth in Victorian Flower symbology. (known as Floriography).

Death Watch Beetles are included because of the old superstition that says that the ticking sound made by the adult beetle is said to portend death.

The crossed bones are there representing the returning of our bodies back to the earth.