Art I'm Looking at: Botticelli at the Legion of Honor

I found a recent article on Hyperallergic about drawing on blue paper interesting (actually a review of a book on the subject) – particularly interesting having recently seen the show of Botticelli drawings now at the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco.

It was striking that so many of the Botticelli drawings were done in ink on tinted paper, mostly pink paper in this case, heightened with white chalk. 

While at the Botticelli show, I was startled when a living Botticelli appeared beside me, gazing at the drawings on the wall. Her hair was long and blonde, flowing in loose curls, and her doe-eyed face was dainty with a pointed chin. Had she not been dressed in modern, casual clothing, she could have emerged from Botticelli's Primavera. It was all I could do to keep myself from staring at her. I had to wonder whether it was pure coincidence or whether she had done her hair that way purposefully, to create a stir. If she hadn't been wearing headphones, listening to a taped tour of the show, I would have approached her and asked her to pose in front of one of the drawings. Surreptitiously, I photographed her. She gave me goosebumps.