This triptych appropriates historical imagery of the English monarchy: Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619); and her parents Henry Tudor and Anne Boleyn by Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497-1543). The portraits have been deconstructed by exchanging segments to indicate the genetic relationship between them – these sections are joined using the Japanese gold repair technique known as yobitsugi. The work highlights that all beings are chimeras of their ancestors and that characteristics of an individual live on in their descendants. The backgrounds of the mother and daughter are the same, representative of the distaff line: at conception the mother contributes the entire cell’s cytoplasm & organelles, plus half of the nucleus to the progeny cell (the paternal legacy is limited to just the other nuclear half) - it is an allegorical reference, that despite the machismo of Henry, his descendants (as all creatures), are formed and nurtured in growth, predominately by the female. It prompts reflection that we are all a mosaic of features past, present and future and rendered in a humour descended from the ancient distaff line.
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​Details of components are shown below: