Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones / Screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin

By the mid-1970s, the Monty Python team were household names courtesy of their anarchic BBC sketch show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and its first feature film spin-off, a 1971 anthology of re-shot sketches entitled And Now For Something Completely Different. For their second movie, conceived and filmed during the gap between the last two series of Flying Circus, the troupe had a more ambitious concept in mind. Fuelled by the fascination and expertise of Terry Jones in all things medieval, they resolved to create a contemporary comedy set during the Middle Ages, tapping into Arthurian mythology and the legend of the Holy Grail. The two Terrys, Jones and Gilliam, made their directorial debuts, while for the screenplay, the team divided into their usual writing partnerships (Jones working with Palin, Cleese with Chapman, and Idle writing largely alone while Gilliam focused on the animated sequences), before presenting their work to the other members for approval. The result is effectively a sequence of individual sketches held together by the thread of King Arthur’s quest. And what glorious sketches they are: the Black Knight (’Tis but a scratch!’); the anarchist peasants (‘Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!’); Camelot (‘It’s only a model!’); the Knights who say ‘Ni!’; Brave Sir Robin; the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch; Tim the Enchanter; and many more besides, including, of course, the immortal French Taunter. All together now: ‘Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!’

Framed Dimensions: 330mm x 410mm

Acrylic on 300gsm Arches oil paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.