Ithell Colquhoun (/ˈaɪθəl kəˈhuːn/) (1906 – 1988) was born in Assam, India and moved to England as a child. A painter and writer, she was an early adopter of Surrealism and its techniques. She wrote Poetry, Essays, Travels books (Ireland and Cornwall) and Gothic Novels using the Surrealist method of automatic writing, including Goose of Hermogenes, 1961 and Grimoire of the Entangled Thicket, 1973.

Her other passion was the Occult and, according to the World Religions and Spirituality Project, she was a member of Aleister Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis, Kenneth Grant’s New Isis Lodge but also of the Order of the Pyramid and the Sphinx, the Theosophical Society of England, the French and English Druidical Orders, the Ancient Celtic Church and the Fellowship of Isis.

Scylla is a creature of Greek mythology who lives in a narrow channel of water and maliciously sinks boats and attacks sailors. This painting, however, is not a simple representation of the myth but has a secret meaning hidden in plain sight.

An homage to Artemisia Gentileschi:

PS: The painting Scylla is a representation of Ithell Colquhoun lying in her bathtub looking at her knees.