HE OLD MASTERS of the Netherlands Renaissance captured such luminosity in their portraits, still lifes and landscapes. These painters were experts in a technique that was lost for centuries and would have remained so had it not been for its revival by Austrian painter Ernst Fuchs. I studied and taught with him and learnt how to capture the magic of the Old Masters. For this portrait, I chose my friend Nicole. Her family came from a combination of Egyptian and Italian aristocracy and I thought she would make an intriguing subject for my portrait. Nicole was an unrepentant chain-smoker, never without a cigarette between her fingers; I wanted to capture
