The Priest - Pieter Lategan (2026)
This digital pencil study presents the seated figure of The Priest removed from its architectural context. The body folds inward, resting on itself, with the head supported by the hand in a posture of contained reflection.
The drawing focuses on structure, weight, and inward presence rather than expression or story. The figure is treated as form and mass, emphasizing restraint, stillness, and internal gravity — central to the language of Silent Monumentalism.
This image presents two digital pencil structure studies of The Priest, focusing exclusively on the seated body and its physical organization.
The left study shows a light under-drawing used to establish posture, axis lines, and proportional relationships. The right study develops this structure into simplified block forms and body mass, clarifying weight, balance, and spatial grounding.
No attention is given to facial expression, clothing detail, or surface texture. The drawings exist purely to understand the body as structure and mass within a seated, inward posture.
This image presents two digital pencil structure studies of The Priest, focusing exclusively on the seated body and its physical organization.
The left study shows a light under-drawing used to establish posture, axis lines, and proportional relationships. The right study develops this structure into simplified block forms and body mass, clarifying weight, balance, and spatial grounding.
No attention is given to facial expression, clothing detail, or surface texture. The drawings exist purely to understand the body as structure and mass within a seated, inward posture.
Pieter Lategan | STUDIO
This digital pencil study isolates the architectural background of The Priest.
An arched recess defines the space, constructed through soft cross-hatching and restrained tonal variation. The surface carries quiet ornamental traces, but remains structurally dominant rather than decorative.
The background functions as a container for stillness — a spatial field designed to hold presence without narrative. It is intentionally empty, allowing weight, silence, and inward tension to exist before the figure is introduced.
Digital design (study), 6 January 2026
Time: 14:30 (SAST)
Pretoria, South Africa
Pieter Lategan
Digital design (study), 6 January 2026
Time: 14:30 (SAST)
Pretoria, South Africa
Pieter Lategan
Structural Pose Study — The Priest
Quiet / Silent Monumentalism
This work forms part of an ongoing body of work developed within my Quiet / Silent Monumentalism framework. It is conceived as a structural and tonal study, focusing on inward presence, gravity, and restraint rather than narrative or symbolism.
The figure is seated and inward-turned, grounded through weight and compression. Gesture is withheld. Expression is restrained. The work prioritises presence over explanation, silence over drama, and dignity over spectacle.
Colour is treated structurally rather than expressively, using muted, restrained tones to establish mass and stillness. The environment remains minimal and architectural, allowing the figure to hold the space without distraction.
This digital study serves as a preparatory work and will be translated into physical paint. Further refinement will occur through material process rather than conceptual expansion.
The Priest Drawing
Pieter Lategan - 6 January 2026
Pretoria, South Africa
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Structural Pose Study — The Priest
Pieter Lategan, 6 January 2026
Pretoria, South Africa
Digital artwork (in progress), 5 January 2026
Pieter Lategan
Quiet Monumentalism Study
This image forms part of an ongoing body of work developed within my Quiet / Silent Monumentalism framework. The work is currently in progress and functions as a structural and tonal study rather than a resolved statement.
The figure is abstracted and inward-turned, constructed through weight, compression, and restraint rather than narrative or symbolism. Colour is treated structurally rather than expressively, with muted greens and worn gold traces used to establish presence and gravity rather than decoration.
The image does not depict a specific individual, historical figure, or narrative moment. It exists as a formal investigation into stillness, inward presence, and monumental restraint.
Further refinement and translation into physical painting will follow.
This study was developed through an internal studio framework focused on structural clarity, balance, and restraint.
Digital artwork (in progress), 2026
Pieter Lategan
Background study for The Priest - Pieter Lategan
Digital ground, 1 January 2026
Square format (1m × 1m)
Gilded Ground (Quiet Monumentalism)
Background study for The Priest
Digital ground, 2026
Square format (1m × 1m)Technical specifications
Final format: 100 × 100 cm (1m × 1m)
Aspect ratio: 1:1 (square)
Resolution for painting reference / print: 300 DPI
Status: Locked master ground
Use: Fixed background for oil paintings and related studies
This background is created as a standalone ground and is not intended to change between works. The figure will enter and leave this space, but the ground remains constant.
Concept and use
The background functions as a holding space, not as decoration. It suggests architectural memory rather than a specific location. While the curved form and spatial logic are informed by North African and Moroccan mosque interiors, the image does not describe a literal mosque. It remains deliberately open, architectural, and inward.
Gold is used not as ornament or symbolism, but as surface memory — worn, layered, uneven, and restrained. The gold tones are intended to feel aged and absorbed into the structure, closer to patina than to brilliance.
The background establishes:
stillness
gravity
inward space
silence
It allows the figure to exist without narrative instruction.
Colour and material intention
The palette is built around:
muted gold
deep earth tones
softened shadow
restrained contrast
In the final oil painting, this effect will be achieved through layered underpainting, glazing, and selective use of metallic or mineral-based gold tones, applied sparingly and worked back into the surface rather than sitting on top of it.
Painting process (recommended order)
The background will be painted first, before the figure.
This allows:
the ground to settle visually and emotionally
the figure to respond to the space, not dominate it
correct control of scale, gravity, and tone
The figure will be developed afterward, directly into the established ground.
Authorship note
This background was conceived, developed, and authored as part of the ongoing body of work Quiet Monumentalism. It exists as an independent component within the work and may be reused consistently across related paintings.
The Priest (Study)
Digital image
Pieter Lategan, 1 January 2026
Pieter Lategan, 2026
Oil painting (in progress)
The Priest is part of an ongoing body of work exploring inward presence, dignity, and restraint within contemporary African life.
The figure is not symbolic and not narrative. He is seated, inward-turned, and suspended in thought. The posture—heavily tilted, asymmetrical, and weighted—draws structurally from early modern figurative painting, particularly the inward poses found in Irma Stern’s work. These references are not quoted but absorbed, forming the physical grammar of the image.
Colour operates with similar restraint. The controlled skin tones recall mid-century portrait logic, while the silver-white architectural background creates space rather than context. Nothing is described beyond what is necessary for presence.
Set within a Moroccan context, The Priest reflects a living African religious landscape without illustration or spectacle. The painting resists explanation. It asks for attention rather than interpretation.
This work belongs to what I describe as Quiet Monumentalism—a contemporary painterly language concerned with weight, stillness, and the authority of silence.
— Pieter Lategan
Pretoria, South Africa
2026
Development note:
This work forms part of a long-term inquiry. An earlier research post from 2024, reflecting on the painter Frans Claerhout and the figure of The Priest, marked an initial point of reflection that later informed this study.Readers interested in the early stages of this thinking may view the reference post here:
The Priest — Frans Claerhout (2024)
https://pieterlateganart.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-piest-frans-claerhout-painter.html
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