Struck by the intensity and emotion of Lucas Cranach the Elder’s 'Portrait of a Man with a Spotted Fur Collar’ at a recent exhibition in Hong Kong, Nicolas Chow, Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia — as well as a talented photographer and filmmaker — was moved to create this very personal take on the power of the painting: "It is remarkable to what extent physical distance can alter one's perception of a work. Standing at a meter from this renaissance portrait, I am light years away from the sitter. Perhaps it is his costume, which confines him to a fixed place and time in history. But as I stare at him much closer, a strange sense of proximity creeps in. The geography of the man's face seems almost too familiar, I may have met this man. His eyes are vacant, his furrowed eyebrows hint at an ambiguous emotional state. What might he be looking at beyond the edge of the frame?" Cranach's work is a highlight of our upcoming Old Masters Evening Sale (4 July, London).