The Two-Headed Boy of Bengal by Candlelight Pen and ink, 9.5 x 7.5 inches, 1998 In the spring on 1783, a remarkable boy was born in India with a fully formed second head attached to the crown of his skull. Despite this bizarre appendage, the boy was healthy and showed a good chance of living a long and somewhat normal life. Fate was not on his side, however, and the boy expired at the age of four from the effects of a cobra bite. The boy's skull now resides in the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. This piece is something of a self-portrait and vanitas in a manner after one of the Repentant Magdalen paintings by Georges de La Tour. All Images and Text © James G. Mundie 2003 - 2005