Franklin Square woman Photoshops pets into Renaissance paintings

The spread of the Black Plague in the 14th century led, eventually, to the Renaissance. Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, one Franklin Square woman is creating art of her own — Photoshopping pets into Renaissance-era paintings.

Lisa Dawn Esposito, who teaches graphic design at the High School of Arts and Technology in Manhattan, was inspired to spend her new-found free time creating unique portraits after she saw similar ones selling for up to $600 on Facebook and Etsy.

“I thought, that’s a cute idea,” Esposito, 40, said, “but who would pay that much?”

So she decided to create her own, and sell them for only $25.

She started about two weeks ago by taking photos of her three pets and Photoshopping her dog, Dustin, into Antonis Mor’s self-portrait; her cat, Brutus, into a self-portrait by Jacques-Louis David; and her other dog, Waffles, into a painting of a knight of unknown provenance.

Then, to cheer up her mother, Linda Andersen, while she was sick with Covid-19, Esposito decided to make portraits of Andersen’s dogs. They stayed by her while she suffered from a high fever for three weeks, and Linda Andersen, said she was “petrified that they were going to get sick.”

But the dogs — which Andersen refers to as “Sir” Rufus and “Princess” Sandy — remained healthy, and when her daughter gave her their portraits, Andersen said, “I just fell in love.”

“It’s just a lovely way of portraying them,” she said. “As royalty.”

Esposito then decided to share her talents with the larger Franklin Square community. On April 12, she posted on one of the community Facebook pages that “quarantine boredom has finally gotten to me,” and told residents to send her private messages if they were interested in purchasing the portraits.

One of the first people to respond was Julia Schroeder, whose mother had seen a similar Renaissance-style pet portrait on television “and thought it was adorable,” Schroeder recounted. She decided to buy one of Esposito’s creations for her mother, which, she said, is “absolutely adorable, and I know my mother’s going to love it.”

The portraits take Esposito about half an hour to make. She starts by finding out how the pet’s owner sees his or her pets — as a princess, prince, knight or king — and then looks for a suitable high-resolution painting on Google, which she then copies into Photoshop. All paintings from the Renaissance are now in the public domain.

Once that’s done, Esposito removes the subject’s face and replaces it with the pet’s, adjusts the color and uses some filters “to make it look like a painting and not a photo,” she explained.

The work, she said, helps cheer her up. Not only did she have to care for her mother and stepfather while they were sick, but she also cares for three teenagers —  two of whom attend H. Frank Carey High School and one who is in college and are all learning remotely, and continues to teach a graphic design class online. “It’s a lot of stress,” she said. “So this was a silly distraction.”

“It makes me laugh,” Esposito added, noting that art is important for coping during events like a pandemic. “Art makes people happy — look what everyone turns to in a time of crisis,” she said. “Imagine quarantine without movies, music, virtual museums and concerts.”

To purchase a customized pet portrait, message Esposito on Facebook or visit her graphic design Facebook page, Strange Sally 23 Art and Design.