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Coventina by Lelia Thomas

Details

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This oil painting was created on 30×24-inch stretched canvas and took about six hours to complete.

The idea behind “Coventina” has its roots in Celtic history. Coventina was an ancient, Celtic goddess best known in Britain, where she was actively worshipped during the Roman occupation. Her primary function was to provide success and protection over the waters, rivers, streams and wells. According to some sources, she was specifically connected to the Caldew River in England.

There was a Romano-Celtic temple built in her name in Carrawburgh, Northumberland. In ancient times, many people came to give offerings to Coventina at the temple, and some 13 to 14,000 Roman coins have been found in the temple’s wells, most from the Roman Gratian’s reign of 407 AD. Other offerings, such as beads, glass, pottery and other items have been found. Much of the worship of Coventina took place during the struggling powers between the Christian and pagan eras.

I found the myth of Coventina an interesting one to depict because of the vague history we have on what people considered her to look like. In some architectural sculptures, she was depicted as a single deity, while in others she was shown as a three-in-one water nymph goddess.

This is why I chose the blue, water-like background colors in my painting. I chose auburn red for her hair color, due to the places where she was found. Traces of her existence in ancient worship have been found in Britain, Scotland and Gaul.