The Weeping Madonna of Syracuse vs. Beyonce performing at the Grammy's

1953 vs. 2017

With the similarities of the gold accessories and headpiece when comparing Beyonce and this statue of the Virgin Mary, it's obvious that Beyonce knew what she was doing. There are various locations with statues of weeping madonnas, everywhere from Ireland to Croatia. The only one recognized by the Church is this statue of the Virgin Mary in the town of Siracusa in Sicily.

This is the first of an ongoing series of posts that have sparked my interest. It's quite comical to notice once you start looking for the similarities between tabloid images and classic works of artwork and masterpieces. For the first entry for this series, I thought I'd share one of my recent favorites, and one of the most iconic comparisons I've discovered these past few months since I've picked up this little hobby. It's quite interesting once you began to notice the strange similarities. Most people think that photos taken by paparazzi and put in tabloids and gossip magazines are quite vapid and a waste a time. But in reality when you place images from pop culture next to their precise analogues in art history, you began to look at the tabloid photo in a different way and it might continue to resonate with you throughout the day. At least that's what happened to me once I began to notice it.

There are obviously tons of differences between pop culture and art history. There's this stigma that only one of these things can be enjoyed independently from the other. Hollywood celebrities, reality tv stars, and social media personalities are all just byproducts of visual media. We engage with them in a similar way that other societies in the past would engage with paintings. Whether it was deciphering Picasso's work in the Expressionism period, or admiring Botticelli's famous Birth of Venus painting in the Italian Renaissance.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
-Lauren