100 Days of Art History Jinjins

60/100

Madonna of the Magnificat

I must have been feeling ambitious with this one--there's 7 figures in this painting. I put myself in 7 times, once as a baby. The longer you look, the more mes you see. Would I do it again? No. It took me a month--way too much work. I also don't think I was successful with the skin tones. They're really muddy and grey. Since I painted this, I understand how to make painted skin richer and more convincing. All that said, this was a great challenge and I'm happy with how it came out. It makes me laugh to see so many sets of glasses.

This is by Botticelli, who also did the Birth of Venus. Here is another long, elegant blonde with wavy hair, bending her head over, now in the aspect of a mother (and a writer). Her headdress is also gorgeous--I actually realy enjoyed putting that in. And there's tons of delicate gold gilding, which was a really fun finishing touch to add. I also like the circular form factor.

Reference image is from Wikipedia. The painting is now in the Uffizi in Florence.

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