From the MTG: Kawepō a gallant and honourable man

You can see the portrait of Rangitira Rēnata Kawepō by Jono Rotma at the MTG. Photo / NZME

It'll be near impossible to get a table at a restaurant and the price of flowers will be through the roof on Valentine's Day.

However, although it is easy to write off Valentine's Day as a commercial enterprise, it is also a day of cultural and religious significance in this and many other parts of the world.

Well-known as a day that celebrates romantic love, it is one of those commemorative days where the origin is a little mysterious.

Some sources cite the originating story of Saint Valentinus of Rome living in the third century BC. He was known for the extraordinary compassion he displayed to Christians who were persecuted for their beliefs, these being an anathema to the paganistic practices of Romans of the time.

Since the fifth century, Valentinus's death has been commemorated as Saint Valentine's Day and his skull, crowned with flowers and enshrined in an ancient basilica in Rome, is still a popular place of worship for those in search of love.

There is also the story of a Saint Valentine who, living in Umbria in the third century, was beheaded for refusing to deny Christ. The story goes that he restored the eyesight of his jailer's blind daughter and, shortly before his execution, he wrote the daughter a note, signing it 'from your Valentine'. The origin of a multitude of romantic messages.

Other ancient stories abound such as that of Saint Valentine, who secretly performed Christian weddings for soldiers and their loved ones and who purportedly cut heart shapes out of parchment paper to give to soldiers to remind them of their vows and faith.

Each saint that backgrounds the day expresses love in a different way to people of other faiths, between strangers, or to their oppressor.

So how does this portrait of our Rangitira Rēnata Kawepō by Jono Rotman, from the Hawke's Bay Museum Trust Collection, fit into the idea of Valentine's Day?

Kawepō was a soldier who supported government troops in the fight against Te Kooti in October 1868. At the taking of Te Pōrere pā, Kawepō had his eye gouged out by a young Taupō woman, in revenge for her husband who had been killed during the attack on the pā.

Kawepō held on to her until help arrived, and would not allow his people to harm her, considering that she had acted in honour, later marrying her.

Rotman made this portrait as part of a series of works that explored the Ōmarunui Battle in Hawke's Bay. It shows Kawepō with one eye and a gnarly scar where the other eye once was, and in this context is a powerful image of compassion, faith and of the place of love in ideas such as forgiveness and utu.

History shows that Kawepō was one of Aotearoa's most gallant and honourable men, and his marriage to this young woman from Taupō must indeed be the hottest love story in history. These stories, where love transcends conflict and hostility are in keeping with the tradition of Valentine's Day and are surely worth celebrating.

So to everyone from all at the MTG Hawke's Bay, a very happy Valentine's Day on Monday.

Toni MacKinnon is art curator at MTG