Nelson Mandela ‘Contemplation’ by Marc Alexander, pencil on paper, 17cm by 14.5cm, (2014). Mandela’s uncompromising moral convictions and gentle yet firm sense of fairness are what set him apart. It was characteristics like these that gave him such an authority at the negotiating table. Mandela said, ‘If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness’.” Unfortunately, I never met Nelson Mandela in person. nevertheless, after producing so many portraits of him, I have become so familiar with every spot and wrinkle on his face. So much so that my latest sketches required little or no photographic references, and are drawn from my imagination.