If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much are paintings worth? Surely much more, as they also reveal the artist’s intentions and the subject’s self-image.

A case in point is the painting of President Trump that Vladimir Putin asked Steve Witkoff to give him in April. According to the New York real estate developer-turned-diplomatic globetrotter, it was “a beautiful portrait,” and Trump was “clearly touched by it.”

The artist is 69-year-old Nikas Safronov, celebrated as a People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, Honored Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, Professor of Ulyanovsk State University, honorary citizen of Ulyanovsk and honorary citizen of Baku.

Portraits are his specialty. A Russian source says he’s known as the “genius of kitsch,” a “Russian Casanova” and “our Salvador Dali.” I don’t know about the Casanova bit, but the first and third descriptions apply — only with the qualification that Safronov is

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