'Capuchin Monkey'

It is difficult to know the inspiration for this painting by Chris Gollon. It is the only painting of a monkey he ever produced, although he had a love of animals, often including Gollonesque cats, dogs and occasionally birds in his imagery . Perhaps inspired by a Nature programme; or, as he was very well read, perhaps he came across the Capuchin Monkey in a book.The word “capuchin” derives from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, who wear brown robes with large hoods. When Portuguese explorers reached the Americas in the 15th century, they found small monkeys whose colouring resembled these friars, especially when in their robes with hoods down, and named them capuchins. They are readily identified as the “organ grinder” monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. Capuchins have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any non-human primate, as well as complex brain wiring. Their neural complexity is likely related to their sociality and foraging skills.

In his painting, Chris Gollon seems to endow the monkey’s gaze with a human consciousness, and feeling of a premonition of its development into a human species, or at least of the arrival of the human species.