The "Re-Mastered" Project
I hate to admit it....I have a terrible addiction to this app called Double Down Casino. I have found it a pseudo narcotic for my every stressful life! In the hours I lay awake at night, unable to sleep, I can watch virtual slot machines spin instead of the visions, ideas and to-dos in my mind.
My very favorite slot is Da Vinci Diamonds. No doubt because, as an art major and great appreciator of art history, I'm drawn to the graphics used on this particular slot- Leonardo DaVinci's greatest hits...
The other night, as I watched Mona Lisa spinning and racking up points, I had a crazy thought. Unfortunately, this thought flipped the switch back on my brain which I've been unable to turn off since I thought about it...
What would these famous portrait icons look like if DaVinci painted them today? The Mona Lisa, La Belle Ferronniere, The Lady With An Ermine (Cecilia Gallerani) or the painting of The Musician?
As a photoshop enthusiast, my imagination started tweeking at the idea of taking these famous images and seeing if I could give them a modern twist, without totally wrecking the integrity of the originals. And in the process learn more about the real people who's images we have become so familiar with.
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Ravishing and Rebellious
I started my makeover experiment with La Belle Ferronniere- No one knows for sure who she actually was, but is is rumored that she was the the wife of the Duke of Milan, Beatrice d'Este. If so, she would have been in her mid to late 20's when this was painted. The name of the painting is attributed to the jewel worn on a delicate chain across the forehead, called a ferronnière -...Funny how fashions are recycled, even from as long ago as the Renaissance. You might see that fab ferronnière she wears ( in either version) on festival fashionistas snapping selfies at Coachella!
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Socialite and the Shitzu
Next I experimented on the Lady with the Ermine...
Really...Does she need an ermine these days? A ferret maybe, but I thought it more realistic that should would be holding a small designer dog. At the time Di Vinci painted her, Cecila Gallerani was about 17 years old and mistress to the Duke of Milan....Shocking ;-0 She looks so demur!
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Real House Wife of Florence
This is my modern interpretation of Mona Lisa or Lisa Gherardini, the woman who this actually was. She was born to a middle class family and married a man of means, who was a patron of the arts. Dressed in Alexander McQueen, she makes a perfect portrait posing at her penthouse in NYC.
