[Raffaele Di Fiore]

Thanks for replying, though I think you may have misread my intention and what I was asking of the forum members. I am truly only looking for opinions from other portrait artists as to whether or not they favour including hands in portraits (implying torso as well) and their reasons for so. Does it present more of a unified whole as opposed to a head/shoulders image which may be more related to a study of sorts?

Does extending the view of the subject tell one more about the sitter?

For that matter what constitutes good portraiture? (Apart from likeness of the subject of course) I would be interested in others opinions here.

I am not a portrait painter per se. My art focuses on interpretation of historical events, biblical events, genre, even romanticizing at times. I try to bring the viewer in as though he/she were there as an observer, if even for a brief moment.

There is no emotional factor here. I have been asked to do a portrait, I have agreed. I personally do not know the sitter. It will be presented as a token of my family