But the height of folly
Is to lead men to love
To kill their neighbors
Without understanding butchery.
And so our quarrels unfurl.
We fight....till our cups
With resentment overflow.
This is why in "X" years
The destinies of Germany and France
Must collide again to spite our fears.
--Paissy, 2nd line, July 30, 1915
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The Supplication of the Earth is an oil of massive dimensions that Despujols derived from a drawing in his World War One trench sketchbook. Anticipating the coming Holocaust, the Earth cries out for peace but all around her is death, destruction and war. His last painting created on French soil, "Supplication" was completed in the uneasy atmosphere preceding the Nazi invasion and that collision of French and German destinies Despujols predicted in 1915. |