This 71-year-old artist’s walls in his Canadian home are filled with paintings by the greats, including Johannes Vermeer’s "The Girl With the Pearl Earring," Sandro Botticelli’s "Primavera" and even Michelangelo’s "Creation of Adam" on painted on one ceiling.
Even though none of them are real, it is perhaps more impressive that Cosimo Geracitano of Coquitlam, British Columbia, painted them all himself.
In addition to being the father of three and grandfather of five, he said that over the last 10 years, he has painted 45 replica paintings from ranging from the Renaissance to Impressionism.
Geracitano’s even has a miniature replica of the Sistine Chapel featuring just the "Creation of Adam," which he painted on panels then installed on his ceiling afterward.
He explained he started painting as a boy growing up in Bivongi, Italy.
Geracitano settled in Canada in 1967 and got married shortly after.
When his wife died of a heart attack three-and-a-half years ago, he passed his business onto his son and used his newfound spare time to focus on his paintings.
Geracitano said he now paints almost every day, and can spend weeks to months on a single piece.
He is now working on a recreation of the "Allegory of the Planets and Continents" by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – a work in progress he started nearly three months ago.
“All the paintings I’ve chosen so far, I’ve seen the originals and they’re so wonderful, so inspiring,” Geracitano said.