Hap Henriksen
The Wizards
 
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Enter a bygone age, a time far more exciting than the present day.  Mankind was on the brink of developing new sciences, including mathematics, theology and most exciting of all, alchemy.

The eternal dream of easy wealth had been with man since time immemorial, and the thought of how to turn base metals, like lead, into gold concentrated some of the greatest minds.

These sculptures for Lilliput Lane Land of Legend capture the true essence of the alchemist and the Wizard.

Sometimes thoughtful, sometimes exasperated, but always deadly intent upon his chosen task, the Wizard or Alchemist, like so many mediaeval images, is coloured by the literature and paintings we have known and loves since childhood.  The classic artists’ view and images most presented by Northern European Folklore have been the inspiration for the figures that best depict Lilliput Lane Land of Legend’s promise of “HISTORY THAT WAS AND NEVER WAS”.

Imagine the dark ages in Mediaeval England and Northern Europe.  A gloomy room tucked deep in a mighty castle.  Or a lonely tower shrouded in mist where a wizened old man sits gazing into a bubbling flask.  He is surrounded by the clutter of his profession.  Jars and bottles, concoctions and potions prepared from wonderfully unusual ingredients such as bats’ wings, eyes of newt and, just possibly, dragon eggs.  The many years of devoted toil have taken their toll on our learned and mystical friend.  The disappointments of failed experiments and the occasional displeasure of the King of the Wizard’s continued inability to change lead into gold, have left their permanent mark.  His aged furrowed brow and deeply etched facial features inevitably turned his hair and beard pure white.

Each of the creations represents an aspect of mediaeval wizards deeply absorbed in their routine work.

The picture below was on the front of one of the early catalogues, note Hap himself in the crystal ball