Leonardo's Twins

The series, "Daughters and Sons," was begun in the Spring of 2008 and was inspired by my interest in contemporary portraiture and the art and artists of the Italian Renaissance.

It seemed mandatory that I paint the twins of one of the greatest portrait painters of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci. I drew from his most famous portrait of Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini (the 24 year old wife of Florentine citizen Francesco del Giocondo) and from other Renaissance portraits that were in profile.

I am interested in the underlying psyche of heredity and genetics, the place and the environment of the subject and in rendering the different interpretations of a subject's personality — and in the case of twins, their individuality and mood.

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