Holbein Master Copy -- a new picture in progress

I started this project last fall. It will be a master copy of Holbein's Thomas More, painted to scale. The detail in the velvut cuffs, the fur collar and the stubble in the face are amazing. And learning how to paint them is the challenge I've taken on.

For the first time ever, I made use of an old fashioned "squaring up" technique: I drew a grid over a print that I bought years ago at New York's Frick Gallery and then drew a similar grid over my 24" by 30" canvas.

I've been concentrating on getting the face right and still have some minor adjustments to make to the jaw line. The real challenge though will be colour and I'm going to worry about it later. No two prints I've seen are alike and most that I have make the skin too yellow and the curtain too vibrant a green. Each print also brings out different details in each area, so I'm drawing on more than one version...

Version 1: Downloaded from the Google Art Project and its tour of the Frick Gallery in New York, where this painting hangs.

Version 2: Downloaded from the respected http://www.artrenewal.org/ archive of classical works.

Version 3: Downloaded from an internet picture archive