Known for creating photorealistic animal portraits set against stark white backgrounds, self-taught Italian painter Ester Curini has explained that isolating the endangered species on a blank canvas allows her to concentrate on a subject’s essential characteristics, and, at the same time, on what is essential to her as an artist.

Curini grew up in an unfiltered environment, where reality was not manipulated by adults so as not to hurt the sensitivity of children. She soon witnessed the cruelty of humans towards animals, a gruesome reality she had to face and deal with, by herself. Her greatest passions in childhood were animals and drawing.

Curini’s subjects appear anthropomorphic with their human poses and matter-of-f...