This is an original gouache painting of a nude on an antique scrapbook page from 1880.

The “Darmstadt Madonna” is an oil painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, completed in 1526. The work shows the Bürgermeister of Basel, Jakob Meyer zum Hasen, and his family, grouped around the Madonna and infant Jesus. I found this dusty old print of the painting, pasted in a German and English scrapbook from 1880, with the faces hand-painted in pink.

I immediately thought one of my favorite muses, Astrid, whose father always told her she looks like the Madonna in pictures. I think it’s because Astrid has such a pious, devoted look about her. Her eyes glint heavenward, full of hope while her hands hover over a saintly heart. It was divine to paint her this way.