The Golden Age of Spanish painting in the 17^thcentury has to be one of my favorite periods of art history.  And what I particularly love, is the realism of masters Diego Velazquez and Jose de Ribera who with their uncanny eye, had the ability to capture the essence of their sitters, whether royals in their magnificent dress or urchins in their disheveled rags.

Fast forward 400 years and we have the work of acclaimed Spanish-based, French photographer Pierre Gonnord (b. 1963) whose body of portraits has caused a stir in the collecting world.  Gonnord spent the last couple of decades photographing the marginalized in Europe … from monks to immigrants … and capturing their humanness, much like it was done by the Spanish masters in the 1600s.

In a world where even your goldfish can take a picture, these serve as testaments that not anybody can create art!  There is a huge difference.