Ruth Sanderson

“The Hippocampus is a mythological sea-horse, with the upper body of a horse and the serpentine tail of a fish. There are versions of this creature in Phoenician, Etruscan, Pictish, Roman, and Greek mythology, as well as in Scandinavian legend. Poseidon, the Greek sea-god, drove a chariot pulled by a team of these creatures. They were also the mounts of the beautiful sea-nymphs, the Nereids, daughters of Nereus, and the Old Man of the Sea. In addition to a fish tail, they are sometimes depicted in art and/or sculpture with fish-fin manes, flippers instead of hooves, and occasionally they are depicted with wings. In my picture, a hippocampus floats in the midst of a forest of coral, surrounded by his adoring little cousins, the seahorses. I am imagining that he is resting and regenerating after all his work carting around Poseidon and the Nereids at top speed.”