Pretty as a Picture

I haven't had a ton of time to post this week, but I did want to share with you all my fave find of an excursion into the hills and fields of Western Pennsylvania, where I popped by an antique mall in Apollo, PA. 

I had seen this before at the mall called We Miss Back When. But thought it was a print. It turns out it's a painting, and it was not only a good price, but it was 15% off. Which made it about $29.00 plus tax.

The artist's name is M. Giordano, and a little online research turned up a few other paintings-- one a tree-lined road, another an Italian marketplace scene. But a little research shows that M. Giordano didn't come up with the original idea for this painting-- this is a close copy of an existing painting from the Victorian era called "La Madonnina" (Little Mother) by an artist named Roberto Ferruzzi. It's also called "Madonna of the Streets." 

Interestingly, though the original painting is popularly considered to be of Jesus and Mary, it was in fact painting of a young Italian girl who was caring for her baby brother. She was only eleven when the portrait was done. (You can read more about that here on Wikipedia.)

I love the colors and the sweetness of both subjects' faces. There's a real Pre-Raphaelite wistfulness about it all and the artist did a bang-up job on capturing the original.

The painting now hangs in my entryway, along with a couple of other Victorian-styled paintings.

Well, hope the weekend ahead of you all is picture-perfect! I will talk to you next week.

--Jenn