Cannelitas little art corner

Who IS she?✨✨✨

Locusta was one of the most famous poisoner during the Roman Empire - responsible for the assassinations of Claudius and Britannicus and helping Emperor Nero assume the throne. Locustas early life remains something of a mystery. What little we do know is she originated from Gaul ( historic region of Roman Territory that encompassed present countries France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Northern Italy, The Netherlands and parts of Switzerland) around the time of Emperor Augustus or Tiberius. As a young girl, it was customary for those in Gaul to have a medicinal and harmful understanding of herbs and plants. It is unknown how Locusta arrived to Rome. However she had quickly gained notoriety with her abilities as a small time poisoner. Eventually her skills caught the attention of Empress Agrippina. Agrippina was determined to secure her son Nero as future Emperor of Rome. How did she achieve that? By assassinating her husband Emperor Claudius and his son Britannicus. The now newly installed Emperor Nero kept Locusta close to his side as his favorite poisoner, granting her land, money, political immunity, endless test subjects, and students to teach her ways. Eventually Neros reign ended by his own hand, and Locusta was swiftly arrested and executed by Emperor Galba at the age of 69 (nice).

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Inspiration✨✨✨

I tried a few new things for this prompt. I was at the time crunched for time and thought if I did lineart and relatively flat rendering it would take less time. WRONG. IT TOOK LONGER. Turns out lineart does not permit looseness or mess and everything has to be veeeery intentional. While at times frustrating it was a fun constraint to play with. I also wanted to be more intentional in drawing different nose shapes and profiles as mine tend to all look the same. All in all a neat experience and I can't wait to never do lineart ever again

Who IS she (TW: Surgery )✨✨✨✨

A great explanation was this excerpt from Joanna Ebenstein -The Anatomical Venus: Wax, God, Death & the Ecstatic.

Below she describes the venus as: "Deftly crafted dissectible female wax models and slashed beauties of the world’s anatomy museums and fairgrounds of the 18th and 19th centuries take centre stage in this disquieting volume. Since their creation in late 18th-century Florence, these wax women have seduced, intrigued and amazed. Today, they also confound, troubling the edges of our neat categorical divides: life and death, science and art, body and soul, effigy and pedagogy, spectacle and education, kitsch and art. Incisive commentary and captivating imagery reveal the evolution of these enigmatic sculptures from wax effigy to fetish figure and the embodiment of the uncanny."

Inspiration