The Raw and the Cooked exhibition: art goes medieval in search of the aesthetic of the middle ages

Entering The Raw and the Cooked at the Saatchi Gallery in London, you are faced with a single enormous painting that occupies the whole of the opposite wall. The Punishment of Richard Roose (2026) is a magnificently anachronistic project: a museum-scale picture of a fairly obscure episode of English history.

Stiff, stylised, life-sized figures stand against a plain background in this painting by Harry Jones London, curator of the exhibition.

At its centre, a boiling cauldron emitting a toxic cloud of steam is the imminent destination for the unfortunate figure standing beside…

© La Conversation - vendredi 4 septembre 2026