Title: Potestas rosea
Artist: Lucius
Artistic Execution: Voineagu Ion
Year: 2020
Technique: Oil painting on canvas, mixed media, impasto
Dimensions: 400 mm (Width) x 600 mm (Height)

Description:
This symbolic, icon-like portrait presents the personification of a spiritual energy whose name, Potestas rosea—“The Rose Power”—is key to its interpretation.

At the center is an androgynous face with hypnotic blue eyes gazing directly at the viewer. Instead of hair, the head is surrounded by an explosive aura of radiant light. This complex emanation features layers of white, intense gold, and crucially, vibrant shades of pink—representing the visual manifestation of “potestas” (power).

At the base of the neck, in the heart center, lies a pristine white-golden rose. Rendered with a thick impasto technique, the paint’s sculptural quality gives the rose a three-dimensional presence. As a classic symbol of love and purity, the rose becomes the source of spiritual power in the painting.

This work conveys the profound idea that true spiritual power arises from the heart’s qualities. The energy depicted is not only radiant with glory (gold) and purity (white) but also infused with love and compassion, symbolized by the pink hues.