Etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-1293" aria-label="More by David Hockney" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">David Hockney</a>
Kaisarion and All his Beauty
Presented by Jonathan Cheshire and Gareth Marshallsea in memory of Peter Coni 1994
abstraction
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
army
artillery
body
Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘Alexandrian Kings’
clothing and personal items
figure
from recognisable sources
groups
hand
helmet
Hockney, Laura
horse
house
individuals: female
inscriptions
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
military
name
named individuals
objects
people
portraits
residential
soldier
symbols and personifications
title of work
weapons
woman
work and occupations
<p>Literature often provided inspiration for Hockney's early work. In the summer of 1960, the artist discovered the homoerotic poetry of the modern Greek poet CP Cavafy. Hockney made several works based on Cavafy's imagery, culminating in the series Fourteen Illustrations for Poems from CP Cavafy (1966), which is also in the Collection. This etching is based on Cavafy's poems Alexandrian Kings and Kaisarion, which describe Kaisarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Here Kaisarion stands on a cloaked figure who may be the artist himself, next to whom is a stylised Egyptian portrait of Hockney's mother.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print etching
14 November 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
14 November 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
2009-11-14
Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
2009-11-14
David Hockney, London and Los Angeles 1960 - 1968
Loan-out
21 March 2019 – 28 May 2023
2023-05-28
21 March 2019 – 4 August 2019
2019-08-04
2019-03-21
Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
http://seoulmoa.org/html/eng/menu01/contents05.jsp
1 September 2019 – 1 January 2020
2020-01-01
2019-09-01
M Woods Museum (Beijing, China)
1 February 2020 – 13 September 2020
2020-09-13
2020-02-01
Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de
18 October 2021 – 23 January 2022
2022-01-23
2021-10-18
Centre for Fine Arts - BOZAR (Brussels, Belgium)
10 February 2022 – 19 June 2022
2022-06-19
2022-02-10
Kunstforum Wien (Vienna, Austria)
http://www.kunstforum-wien.at
8 July 2022 – 30 October 2022
2022-10-30
2022-07-08
Kunstmuseum (Luzern, Switzerland)
http://www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
28 January 2023 – 28 May 2023
2023-05-28
2023-01-28
Musée Granet (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
2019-03-21
David Hockney
Tate partnerships & programmes
Kaisarion and All his Beauty
image: 490 × 276 mm
Presented by Jonathan Cheshire and Gareth Marshallsea in memory of Peter Coni 1994
<p>The source for this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> is the poem 'Alexandrian Kings' by C.P. Cavafy: 'Kaisarion
was standing a little forward,/ dressed in pink tinted silk,/ on his dress a garland of hyacinths,/ his belt a double row of sapphires and amethysts;/ his shoes were tied with white ribbons/ embroidered with rose coloured pearls.' It is inscribed with
the title and the words 'ALEXANDRIA/ CLEOPATRA/ MUM'. Hockney was an admirer of the homoerotic poetry of Cavafy, and used it as a source of several works, most notably his series of prints <em>Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy</em>,
1966 (Tate Gallery <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/P77563" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'P77563');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>P77563</span></a>-77575). He made an earlier oil <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> on the subject, <em>Kaisarion</em>, 1960 (private collection). Both of the Kaisarion pictures are typical of Hockney's Dubuffet-inspired style of his
student days. The artist's work of this period frequently contained allusions to his homosexuality, and to the people he both admired and desired, often using initials or a simple number code in the manner of the American poet Walt Whitman. The 1960
painting contains the initials 'Kk'.</p><p><strong>Further reading:</strong><br/>Nikos Stangos (ed.), <em>David Hockney by David Hockney</em>, London 1976, pp.14, 64, 65, reproduced p.56<br/>Marco Livingstone, <em>David Hockney: Etchings and
Lithographs</em>, exhibition catalogue, Waddington Graphics, London 1988, reproduced pl.2 in colour</p><p>Terry Riggs<br/>November 1997<!-- end text --></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Literature often provided inspiration for Hockney's early work. In the summer of 1960, the artist  discovered the homoerotic poetry of the modern Greek poet CP Cavafy. Hockney made several works based on Cavafy's imagery, culminating in the series Fourteen Illustrations for Poems from CP Cavafy (1966), which is also in the Collection. This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> is based on Cavafy's poems Alexandrian Kings and Kaisarion, which describe Kaisarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Here Kaisarion stands on a cloaked figure who may be the artist himself, next to whom is a stylised Egyptian  <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> of Hockney's mother.
</p><p>
</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstraction adults animals: mammals architecture army artillery body Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘Alexandrian Kings’ clothing and personal items figure from recognisable sources groups hand helmet Hockney, Laura horse house individuals: female inscriptions literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) military name named individuals objects people portraits residential soldier symbols and personifications title of work weapons woman work and occupations