This was a commissioned painting.  Barry is an artist who does photography, especially of people, so using a portrait of Goya (1746-1828) for the doors seemed appropriate. Of course Goya’s brushes had to be replaced by a camera, but they are a similar artistic tool. In this piece there is a further layer with a “mask” of a photographic self-portrait of Barry’s that he deemed significant, this also connected with work Barry was doing around social masks.

Kobita,  an artist friend who also had modelled, but had never posed for a life-cast, and was curious about the experience, so she volunteered to be the subject of a painting. The doors use part of a painting by Chasseriau (1819-1856) depicting Esther, the Jewish queen who saved her people when they were in exile. Kobita’s skin tones set up a good contrast showing the cultural and racial prejudice of the French artist and the society of his day.

This was the first cupboard painting I created. It seemed best to experiment with a sympathetic model, so my wife Linda posed for the life-cast used to create the interior figure. The doors of the cupboard painting represent a section of Rubens’ (1577-1640) portrait of his wife titled “The Little Fur”. As my wife does not own any furs she was cast wrapped in a housecoat. Creating this painting clearly revealed to me the distortions used by past artists in their seemingly realistic depictions, as in no way could Linda put her arm under her breasts and then reach up to her shoulder.

On the doors is a work by Desporte (1661-1743) of an aristocratic hunter. In the era of the painting the aristocracy controlled the land and the rights to hunt it, and hunting was a revered activity. Now the concept of who are hunters has shifted to a different socio-economic level.

I was reading a book called Great Expectations about the portraits of children by Sargent (1856-1925) when I came across the image I repainted on the doors of this painting. Sargent did so many brilliant portraits so it seemed appropriate to use his work for another of my paintings. I recruited a family friend Hannah to pose; she had similar colouring and beauty, plus her family had a dog. Hannah very patiently sat for the life-cast and numerous photos, she also let her prized stuff dog be cast. The outfit the dog was dressed in to pose was deliberate as many family members are devoted fans and Maple Leafs “shrines” are set up during hockey season.

A friend did the life-cast of me under my one watchful eye. The doors combine imagery from two Durer (1471-1528) self-portraits. The position of Durer’s fingers is expressive and beautiful but impossible to assume for the life-cast, human anatomy just doesn’t do that.

The doors of this painting use a work by de la Tour (1593-1652) of a hurdy gurdy player. The hurdy gurdy musicians in de la Tour’s day were often blind and travelled the countryside performing and begging for money. I recruited Steve, a talented musician, for the inside figure, as at times in his life he had worked on sidewalks with his guitar, busking for money.