Sacred Heart is an oil and egg-tempera painting by contemporary artist Benjamin Vierling.  It shows Belladonna, Henbane and Datura, which are plants associated with the Devil, rising out of a human heart.

Benjamin explains his piece,

The Sacred Heart painting may in fact be my most ambitious work to date. Not only in terms of technique, but also as a synthesis of many complex thoughts and feelings…

The aesthetic of the composition is inspired by baroque-era dutch botanical displays, most specifically the masterworks by Van Huysum, and Ruysch, wherein several types of plants are grouped in idealized bouquets, often crawling with insects and small animals. The meticulous hyper-realistic rendering of flora and fauna expresses the profound beauty of the macrocosm through adoration of the microcosm.

At its core, this work is about the dynamic relationships that exist between flora and fauna, color and form, spirit and matter.

You can purchase this 16 x20″ print via Three Hands Press for $72.80.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/streetanatomy/OQuC/~3/kolbwScnVzw/