Faces of History

With my background in history, I am often drawn to do pictures of historical personages.

Here's a sketch of Horatio Nelson that I did recently.

"Lord Nelson, Commander of the White Fleet of the Spirit World" is a more complete rendition, albeit with mystical overtones. (You may want to compare it to my Klingon and furry versions of him. This picture is located on another site.

And what collection of Nelson pictures would be complete without at least one of his beloved mistress, Emma Hamilton. "Lady Hamilton" is an ink rendering of the famous pastel portrait by Schmidt. This picture is located on another site.

"Mike Boorda" is an ink rendering of a portrait of the late Chief of Naval Operations. This picture is located on another site.

While I was waiting for an ink wash drawing to dry in my drawing class, I pulled out a crow-quill pen and did this drawing of a bust of King Louis XIV of France. One rather interesting thing: although the original bust bears a stern expression, some subtle change in the lines around his mouth in my drawing give him a more bluff and hearty look, more like an Englishman playing the Sun King in a masque. In fact, someone who saw me do it asked if it was supposed to be Winston Churchill dressing up.

I had heard of Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell through various sources, but he never meant anything to me until I saw Michael Dahl's portrait of him reproduced in a book on the history of the Royal Navy. Suddenly he became a real person to me, and I drew this sketch of that portrait in my sketchbook.

I've also done some drawings of English landscape painter JMW Turner

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This page last updated March 15, 2000