Um…

So the NYT profiles “food entrepreneur” Joe Bastianich, son of awesome-wonderful celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich, and in the course of things, there is this:

“Mom Memento: I have a Madonna portrait done in the style of a Russian icon. My mother, the chef Lidia Bastianich, and I bought it together. It reminds me of her.”

A Madonna portrait done in the style of a Russian icon. Here is the Madonna portrait in question:

Yes, indeed, it does seem to be done in the style of a Russian icon.

I can’t help but wonder if somehow, somewhere, either Mr. Bastianich or the reporter is a touch confused?

Comments

  1. Quin Finnegan says

    I like it more than the next item in the series, "A wooden sculpture purchased in the Alto Adige in the Italian Alps."

  2. I wonder if I can get a Madonna portrait by Raphael done in the early Italian Renaissance style for my mother…

    Or mabye one of Picasso's Madonnas done in the cubist style…

    I just think it's such a coincidence that there are these portraits out there done in the style that so perfectly matches the period.

    Kinda like Lou Gherig having Lou Gherig disease.

    Who knew?

    JOB

  3. Rufus McCain says

    Is the confusion over whether it's "in the style of" an icon or in fact simply "an icon"? Like saying, I know this writer dude in San Diego who is in the style of Matthew Lickona?

  4. Matthew Lickona says

    Lord help me, I almost wonder if the reporter thinks maybe it's a portrait of the singer Madonna done in the style of a Russian icon…

  5. I thought the "her" was the fellow's own mother. Which would be sweet – and more believable (what man doesn't think his mother is a saintly woman?). So I'm riffing on the fact that it was an overqualified statement (one which Orwell would have had a field day with – vide: "Politics and the English Language").

    But I defer to mightier minds than mine – I still giggle at the way it was written, though.

    JOB

  6. Dorian Speed says

    I had the same thought – read this originally on my phone (without the image displayed) and assumed it was a portrait of The Material Girl in the style of an icon.

  7. Jonathan Webb says

    Ever wear a rosary as a necklace?

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