The idea was going for a mix of classic portrait paintings and early photographs (I used to collect old photos I would pick up at antique stores..I rather like to think of the stories the people in the pictures may have told me and the stories the pictures themselves tell. It's always somewhat sad to me to see pictures in antique stores..to think someone did not care enough to keep those people's memories alive. That's likely why I buy them up and though I don't know their real stories, I'd like to think their memory is still alive because someone cares enough to hold on to their picture)