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Chapter V

Size: 39 × 27cm

Pip's convict is seized by soldiers after having had a brawl with another convict.

This image captures the moment right after he was solicited to give up fighting and to let himself be taken over. Although the convict is completely soaked in dirt and mud from top to bottom, he presents himself in a strong and confident posture, leisurly giving his arm to the gurds trying to cease him. His eyes are directed to a distant point on the horizon and signify his acceptance of his fate and the new role he will be playing in the life of Pip.
The other convict to his feet is knee-deep in the mud and wears a completely lacerated shirt. While he is madly gripping the dirt with his left arm, he wipes his wounded face and fixes Pip's convict with a malign stare full of hatred and revenge. He isn't ready to leave the past behind and will later pursue Pip's convict even in his final hour.


The soldiers are dressed like redcoats of the napoleonic era and therefore date the scene in the late tens or early twenties. The convict on the floor is inspired by a figure from Michelangelo's Judgement Day. The outdoor environment is as usual one of my weakpoints. Hence, the sky looks kind of not realistic and the muddy floor is very busy and hard to recognise. At the end I would like to point out, that I "skipped a column" on the left side of the picture, meaning, since I orient myself on the picture using a grid, that I left unintentionally a whole vertical strip of the picture out. Originally Pip's convict should have been located in the center of the image.

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