100 Days of Art History Jinjins

14/100

Apse Mosaic of the Virgin and Child in the Hagia Sophia

I must have been in a Byzantine mood after the previous entry with Klimt. (He was inspired by Byzantine mosaics like this one.) I also drew this on the night of the Catholicism-themed Met Gala, so I had God and gold on the brain.

Drawing myself as baby Jesus is one of this project's great pleasures. This is an especially good baby Jesus who looks like a dignified tiny man. I don't know if the bizarre inaccuracies of the baby Jesuses of historical art are due to artists not understanding what babies actually look like, or because they wanted to make him look Special and more Godlike. Maybe it's both. Either way, they're fun to look at (and giggle about).

Reference image from Wikipedia.

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