Apparently Cariani painted Benjamin Barnes in "Portrait of a Man with a Dog" circa 1520 (That would be about 462 years before Ben was born.)
Or am I the only one that sees this?
According to the website that I found the painting on, Cariani may not have painted this at all. This may may have been an early attempt at a self-portrait of/by Leonardo Da Vinci. (Why was I looking up Leonardo Di Vinci? *Outside of the fact that we was brilliant?* Let's just say it may have involved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.)
Does that mean it is entirely possible that Benjamin and Leonardo look/looked very similar?
If the information is true that Da Vinci actually painted himself this way, I'm game to admit that could be very possible.
But A) I've no reason to disbelieve the National Gallery.
And B) I have my own questions about it.
Granted, by all written accounts, Da Vinci was a striking young man... but a very tow-headed, light-eyed one. Everything I've read states quite plainly that Da Vinci was supposed to have golden colored hair and grey-blue eyes.
Why would Da Vinci paint his own hair and eyes a darker shade than they truly were?
Which leads me back to my original thought process. Who was Cariani painting? And why does it look so startlingly like someone alive today (again with the 462 year difference)?
(Just a disclaimer: I didn't ask permission to use either of these images... one is appropriately watermarked for Marc Abrahams. http://www.maosyndication.com/archive/celebrity:Ben+Barnes
The other I grabbed from someone's personal website *http://www.kleio.org/en/history/leonardo/newportrait.html* that linked to the Cariani information. My thanks to both of these sources. I'm not making a profit off this and no copyright infringement is intended.)
Or am I the only one that sees this?
According to the website that I found the painting on, Cariani may not have painted this at all. This may may have been an early attempt at a self-portrait of/by Leonardo Da Vinci. (Why was I looking up Leonardo Di Vinci? *Outside of the fact that we was brilliant?* Let's just say it may have involved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.)
Does that mean it is entirely possible that Benjamin and Leonardo look/looked very similar?
If the information is true that Da Vinci actually painted himself this way, I'm game to admit that could be very possible.
But A) I've no reason to disbelieve the National Gallery.
And B) I have my own questions about it.
Granted, by all written accounts, Da Vinci was a striking young man... but a very tow-headed, light-eyed one. Everything I've read states quite plainly that Da Vinci was supposed to have golden colored hair and grey-blue eyes.
Why would Da Vinci paint his own hair and eyes a darker shade than they truly were?
Which leads me back to my original thought process. Who was Cariani painting? And why does it look so startlingly like someone alive today (again with the 462 year difference)?
(Just a disclaimer: I didn't ask permission to use either of these images... one is appropriately watermarked for Marc Abrahams. http://www.maosyndication.com/archive/celebrity:Ben+Barnes
The other I grabbed from someone's personal website *http://www.kleio.org/en/history/leonardo/newportrait.html* that linked to the Cariani information. My thanks to both of these sources. I'm not making a profit off this and no copyright infringement is intended.)
