A boy seated with mice; a musical stave; flowers and trees; a glaring bull; actors on a stage; faces in anguish; a tablet extensively inscribed with thoughts on life; and other subjects. Watercolour by H. Edwards, 1961.

[Netherne, Surrey], Aug. 61 [August 1961]

1 painting : gouache ; sheet 55.7 x 45 cm

H Edwards. Edwards, Hazel Aug. 61 Signed "H Edwards" on the painting. The name of the artist and the date are inscribed by Edward Adamson on the verso Inscribed on the tablet in red and blue mirror-writing: "Soon passion = feeling = suffering. Ecstatic pain. Belief. If. Why? Κυριε ελέισον. Death. Sleep. Oblivion. Comfort. Peace. Improvement. Change. If change occurs there must be relative time. Can be no change, no improvement in eternity. Can be no cleansing nor purgation through Purgatory. Continued life for Eternity. Hopeless. No improvement. Rather oblivion than inescapable loss. Abelard: "This is life eternal, that that never is absent which is always loved." Augustine: "Si vis me esse in lucis [sic], benedictus sis. Si vis me esse in tenebris, sis iterum benedictus." Children of darkness cannot bare to be dragged in lucem. Light = life. Life = privilege = responsibility. Responsibility = judgment. Mea culpa. Authority. Authoritative statements. Αμην Αμην λεγω ́υμιν. Death. No survival where no soul. Destruction of the soul so no survival. Merely peace and sleep. No madness, no thought, no pain, no diffidence. Easy sleep after glorious orgy of pain. Blood = life. Shed blood seals a covenant. Kill the soul and the brain. Where no brain, no weariness, no betrayal. Inefficiency is a full betrayal of colleagues, associates and those having to depend. Two tails of a smoking firebrand. Syria and Egypt. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Strength or weakness? To the pure all is pure; so to the impure all is pornographic. Dirt, disease, increase in filth. Κυριε ελέισον. Sweet sleep of death. Excruciating joy of perpetual punishment ... How long can the destructive influence [of Cain] last? Spread of corruption, evil and filth. It is expedient that one man or woman should die."

This work is untitled, the title has been supplied by the cataloguer.

Wellcome Collection 2925122i

Executed by H. Edwards at Netherne Hospital in Surrey, with support from Edward Adamson