In 2017, the birth of artist Beyoncé's twins was what social media was excited about. The anticipation and excitement over the release of the photographs and the announcement of the birth of her newborn twins left social media users and fans eager to see what Sir and Rumi, the names of her children, would look like. The photograph showed Beyoncé against a floral backdrop on a bright sunny afternoon as she held her two newborns to her chest. This photograph was first published via social media on Beyoncé's Instagram account. Since Beyoncé continues to be a constantly talked about figure in the media, you can imagine how excited and happy her fans were to finally see the long-awaited photo. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are many ways to analyze this photograph as it has been proven to be inspired by several portraits in the past. Sylvan Barnet's “A Short Guide to Writing about Art” discusses some of the questions that can be used to analyze a work of art. He says some fundamental questions consider the meaning of the work and why it was made, as well as how the various physical aspects of that photograph contribute to the overall artwork as a whole. Taking a look at the meaning of this photo, for many mothers, it feels a sense of joy and pride when they can release a birth announcement. As we discussed in our tutorial, this image of Beyoncé holding her children ties back to many historical images. "The blue veil still strongly recalls Renaissance portraits of the Madonna and child, but the robe heightens the resemblance – and now that Rumi and Sir Carter are here, Beyoncé's pose echoes even more strongly images of the Virgin Mary cradling the child Jesus". This helps to understand that the blue veil may have been used in Beyoncé's photograph intentionally to link to the portrait of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus for inspiration. This photograph may also refer to Sandra Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. In this portrait, when we take a look at Venus, who is shown in the center of the painting, “she has a slight tilt of her head and is leaning in an awkward contrapposto-like position.” This correlates with Beyoncé's image as she can be seen mimicking almost the same pose and facial expression as Venus. Beyoncé has a slight tilt of her head and a fixed but tired expression on her face. Her expressions show her cautious maternal instincts as she cuddles her newborns as her main priority would be to keep them protected and safeguarded at all costs. In the photograph taken of Beyoncé, the blue color stands out noticeably. “Blue seeks peace and tranquility and promotes physical and mental relaxation.” Looking at the photograph of Beyoncé, it creates an atmosphere of calm when you look at it for the first time. The color blue could have been used to encourage the peace and serenity of the photograph. Taking all these physical elements into consideration and drawing inspiration from historical portraits, this photograph of Beyoncé offers her fans or those in general who want to study this image in more depth depth with plenty of room to use their creativity when analyzing this image. All in all, this photograph of Beyoncé and her twins continues to be an iconic image across social media and a very serene and angelic image. (2017, July 14). Post on Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BWg8ZWyghFy/Botticelli, S. (n.d.). The birth of Venus. Extracted from..