A Votre Sante: Amaretto

First submission to this new account!

For this year's Yaoi-Con, I participated with my friends and other extremely talented artists in an art book called "A Votre Sante" (you can buy the book here: [link] ). We each chose an alcoholic beverage and created a character illustration based on the drink.

I chose amaretto and was inspired by the legend surrounding the sweet liquor's origin. It's said that one of Da Vinci's pupils was asked to paint frescoes for a church dedicated to Madonna. He chose a young widow to be his model, and they quickly became lovers. She wanted to show her affection for him, but because she was of humble means, could not provide much. She steeped apricots kernels in brandy and presented the resulting liquor to the delighted artist. I looked at art from this time period and decided upon the Baroque theme of the Divine Eros and the Earthly Eros, particularly Caravaggio's and Baglione's treatment of the subject. Struck with the idea of an Eros posing as a Madonna, I created this icon-like piece. Whether the Eros is Divine or Earthly is completely up to the viewer.

Check out the other beautiful pieces here: [link]