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  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358685_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358664_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358663_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    A family member shows her house to others as they install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been inside their ancestor's house since 1746, ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, which will be celebrated on June 27, 2025, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358653_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358645_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358644_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Indigenous people reunited with sacred cloak in Brazil
    DUKAS_174794149_EYE
    Indigenous people reunited with sacred cloak in Brazil
    Chief Jamopoty and six other representatives of the Tupinambá de Olivença people reunited for the first time with the cloak taken from Brazil at least 335 years agoDenmark sends 300-year-old feathered cloak considered an ancestor by Tupinamba de Olivenca to Rio.

    The scene resembled a funeral: seven Indigenous people, overcome with tears, gathered around a loved one resting in a coffin-like wooden box.

    Instead of grief, however, it was a moment of celebration: the long-awaited reunion between the Tupinamba de Olivenca people and a sacred feathered cloak that was taken from Brazil at least 335 years ago.

    The relic - which the Indigenous people consider not as an object but as an ancestor - had been at Denmark’s National Museum until July, when it was sent to Rio de Janeiro.

    Chief Jamopoty and six other representatives of the Tupinamba de Olivenca people reunited for the first time with the cloak taken from Brazil at least 335 years ago.

    Tiago Rogero / Guardian / eyevine

    Contact eyevine for more information about using this image:
    T: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709
    E: info@eyevine.com
    http://www.eyevine.com
    (FOTO: DUKAS/EYEVINE)

    The Guardian

     

  • Various, Britain - 2012
    DUKAS_24994949_REX
    Various, Britain - 2012
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by High Level Photography / Rex Features (1801443q)
    Holiday Inn and The Ancestor sculpture, Solstice Park on the A303 near Boscombe Down, Wiltshire
    Various, Britain - 2012

    (FOTO:DUKAS/REX)

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Various, Britain - 2012
    DUKAS_24994948_REX
    Various, Britain - 2012
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by High Level Photography / Rex Features (1801443p)
    The Ancestor sculpture at the entrance to Solstice Park on the A303 near Boscombe Down, Wiltshire
    Various, Britain - 2012

    (FOTO:DUKAS/REX)

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749515_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811i )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749514_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811n )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749513_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811m )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749512_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811o )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749510_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811f )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749508_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811j )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749507_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811k )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749506_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811l )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749505_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811d )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749504_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811b )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749503_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811a )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749502_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811h )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749501_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811g )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    DUKAS_10749499_REX
    Animal Ancestors pet portraits, America - Jul 2009
    (UK WEB USE: agree fee with DEAN MURRAY before use 0207 278 7294 dmurray@rexfeatures.com)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by Valerie Leonard / Rex Features ( 983811e )

    Animal Ancestor Pet Portraits
    ANIMAL ANCESTOR PET PORTRAITS

    Dogs are usually counted as part of the family - but here's some hounds that are real animal ancestors.

    Artist Valerie Leonard is giving pet lovers the chance to have their furry friend immortalised in a classical painting - as if they were family members from history.

    The pet portraits see four-legged friends cleverly incorporated into pictures you might expect to see in a stately home.

    Some dogs - and a few cats - have morphed into historical figures such as Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and more than a few noble men and women from history.

    But Valerie, a Brit living in Connecticut, doesn't simply paste pictures together, her work involves painstaking attention to detail to get the animal and portrait components to match - even making doggy clothing to help the pictures seamlessly blend.

    She explains: "I discovered that other people have attempted this art form but none that I have seen have taken it to the extremes that I do. I often spend as long as a week perfecting a piece.

    "I choose the painting to suit the animal subject and frequently create completely new backgrounds to better offset furry faces.

    "I often change or even create new clothing to suit the proportions or colouring of the animal ancestor who inhabits it.

    "Taking elements from other paintings by the same artist to better balance an image, I attempt to make my work seamless so that it is, hopefully, impossible to see the merging of one image to another.

    "I challenge anyone to find work that is as conscientiously 'seamless' and personal as mine."

    Valerie creates the portraits for people who want to give a novel gift or remember a departed pet.


    MUST CREDIT PICTURES BY...
    For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/HXAOSXEP

    DUKAS/REX

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358684_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)

     

  • Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    DUKAS_186358654_NUR
    Brass-Made Rath Preparation For Rath Yatra In Kolkata, India
    Family members install parts of the legendary brass-made ''Rath'' or chariot of Kolkata, which has been in use since 1746, inside their ancestor's house ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in Kolkata, India, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto)