This piece," James tells us, "was influenced by Gothic painting and manuscript illumination, but the departure point is, of course, a pun on the word ´perspective.´ For centuries, old men in villages have sat around tables and philosophized, trying to put life into perspective. Here are two fellows-looming large because they´re the main subjects of the image as well as the center of their own conversation-discussing the community around them, the different strata of society being represented by a nobleman, scholar, beggar and . . .