It is one of the most arresting portraits I’ve ever seen. Of movement and abundance, of confidence unshaken. Life had come a-calling and these three had answered. It looked as if they shared amusement. I would wager they shared secrets. Something about the three of them pricked the skin on the back of my neck like a haunting. I knew what I was gazing at, but I could not give it a name. It was only later that I realised exactly why it was so familiar. Alchemy. The three of them. As if they had no need of anyone else in the world.