Black and grey realism portrait of Frankenstein's monster in an ornate oval frame on a calf, beside a traditional pin-up tattoo with a banner.

Frankenstein portrait and pin-up on a calf

Realism · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

A lower leg wearing two black and grey tattoos, with a realistic portrait of Frankenstein's monster in a large ornate oval frame on the right. To the left, a traditional style pin-up woman in a dark dress holds an object, with a banner above her and shading on the leg. The photo is framed from the knee to the boots against a grey wooden wall and dry leaves.

Realism Traditional Calf Portrait Frame Pin-up Woman Banner

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The frame came first, which Mrs Hollins said was the wrong way round. Ezra Pell had carved it from black oak over three winters in the back room above the chandler's, every acanthus leaf and scroll worked by lamplight until the wood looked wet. When he set it on the bench it cast a shadow like a funeral wreath, and the village boys stopped coming past the shop window after dark.

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The likeness followed in a leather case, painted from memory by a widow who had stood at the foot of her husband's table for eleven years. The man in the picture had a heavy brow, a mouth set like a shut drawer, and a seam running from collar to ear, each stitch rendered so exactly that Pell had to rub his eyes. 'Don't gild it,' she said, paying in coins still warm from her glove. 'He hated anything that shone.'

Pell fitted the glass at dusk and hung the frame on a brass nail above his cutting table, where the lamp would catch it. Through the night he heard a slow sound from the corner, like bellows drawing breath, and each time he looked up the painted eyes had moved a fraction nearer the door, as though listening for someone on the stairs.

The widow came back the following week. She stood before the frame a long while, then touched the glass where the stitches ran. 'He's always been patient,' she said. 'Hang him where the light is.' When she had gone, Pell found the nail bare and the oak leaves polished bright, and a single brass button lying in the dust where the picture had been.