In Italian frescoes, Pyke Koch saw crusaders wearing headbands, fighting for the true faith. In this 1937 self-portrait, in the run-up to World War II, Koch portrays himself as one of these fighters – not for Christianity, but for his own 'faith', the fascism of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In Koch's mind, only Mussolini could save 'Western civilisation' from destruction. [text 2023]In this period, Koch found inspiration in Italian painting from the early Renaissance. The head with the headband is presumably based on Piero della Francesca’s sequence of frescoes The Legend of the True Cross in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. A number of these frescoes depict figures wearing (white) headbands: soldiers battling in the name of the one true faith. Anno 1937, Koch portrayed himself in his self-portrait as a soldier fighting for a greater cause. He was convinced only a strong new leader could save Western culture from a moral catastrophe: Italian ‘Duce’ Benito Mussolini.

De vissersvloot van Veere

Dubbelportret

Tegelschilders

Het wassen van strengen katoen

Spoelwindende vrouw, Nuenen

Zelfportret met zwarte band

Stilleven

De sleutels van de anachoreet

Maannacht (ouderlijk huis)

Muzikale verbeelding: Richard Wagner

Op het perron

Russische vrouw