A woman saw a painting that looked just like her online, so she hunted it down and bought it, displaying it in her living room – even travelling over 600 miles away to purchase it
A mum became so convinced that a painting was her ‘doppelganger’ that she spent months hunting down the portrait so she can keep the uncanny likeness on display in her living room.
Jenny Smith was amazed when her family sent her a screenshot of a Facebook post in June showing a painting of a woman that looked ‘just like her’. The portrait shows a woman with long, curly red hair and a ‘large’ forehead – leading the 43-year-old to believe that she was looking at her ‘doppelganger’.
The mum-of-four says that she immediately knew that she ‘had to find the painting’ – only to be dismayed when she discovered that it was located more than 600 miles away in an antique shop in Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, North Carolina, US.
Jenny claims that she went on a hunt for the painting for more than a month, calling antique shops, contacting community Facebook groups, and even asking for help on TikTok.
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However, after admitting defeat, the stay-at-home mum was surprised when she was contacted by a TikTok user who, three months later, claimed to have lived near the shop where the painting was sold. Jenny claims that the helpful shopper nabbed the painting for only $10 – and posted it to Jenny’s home in Columbia, Marion County, Mississippi, US, just days later.
The mum says that unboxing the painting was ‘freaky’ and says that it felt like she was ‘unboxing herself’. The picture now hangs in pride-of-place in Jenny’s living room – where the art enthusiast says that viewers have remarked on the similarities between herself and the woman in the painting.
Jenny said: “Somebody posted the painting in a Facebook group in June, and a friend sent it to my sister and said, “This looks just like Jenny. Then my sister sent [the link] to me, and when I opened it, I was immediately like, ‘Who painted me?’ The forehead was what got me – I have a very large forehead. And the curly hair, the colour of the hair and the eyes.”
“I was instantly like, I’ve got to find this painting – I’ve got to have her. It’s not like some random portrait to me because it looks just like me.”I wanted the painting really bad, so I went to TikTok – I figured that someone, somewhere, had to be close to Spruce Pine. I even joined a Spruce Pine Facebook group.
“I tried for a good month and a half, and then I gave up because nobody was able to help me, and the antique shop wouldn’t answer the phone.”I was really sad about it. I had never seen a doppelganger of myself because I feel like I look different. “Then someone commented, saying that they were in Spruce Pine and would get the painting for me.
“She messaged me on Facebook later and said that she’d found it for ten dollars and wanted to give it to me as a gift, which was the sweetest thing.”I took it out of the box, and it was like unboxing myself. We’ve got the same facial expression; it’s crazy. “It felt kind of freaky when I saw it. It was such a ‘wow’ moment – like, somebody has painted this lady who looks just like me.
“I’ve hung it up in my living room above my bookshelf. She’s there, watching me. My sister came round and saw it and said it’s crazy how much it looks like me. She said it looked like I sat for that painting.” After doing a little digging, Jenny says she discovered that the artist was believed to be Stephen Farris Jr., who had passed away – so she reached out to his granddaughter online.
Jenny claims that Stephen’s granddaughter told her that the painting likely came from one of the art classes her granddad would attend, where different people would sit for paintings. Stephen passed away in January 2014 but had been a fighter pilot in WWII and served in the US Air Force for 30 years, according to an online obituary.
Jenny said: “The painter had passed away, but I found his granddaughter online. I asked if she knew who it was that he painted, and she said that he went to art classes where random people would sit for the paintings. It’s crazy thinking that there’s someone out there who looks exactly like me.”
Jenny shared a photograph of herself and the painting on Facebook earlier this month, where it racked up more than 140,000 likes, comments and shares. Users were quick to express their astonishment and agreed that the resemblance was ‘uncanny’. One said: “This is so fabulously uncanny.”
A second added: “Best thing I’ve seen all day. So glad you found and acquired the painting.” A third agreed, saying: “This is great! Your next quest is to thrift the entire outfit for yourself. We’ll be waiting for the results.”
