Modern Monk — Northern European Holy Man with Red Headphones — Elliott Best Original

The portrait is unmistakably Northern European — the flat, luminous background, the meticulous rendering of fabric and skin, the grave, inward expression of a man given to contemplation. This is the visual language of the great 15th century holy man portraits: Flemish, German, austere, and deeply serious about its subject.

The red headphones are new.

This Elliott Best original places a thoroughly modern object into a thoroughly medieval context, and the collision is the point. The holy man hasn't changed — the stillness, the inwardness, the withdrawal from the noise of the world are exactly what they always were. He has simply found a more efficient method. The monks of the 15th century sought silence through prayer and stone walls. This one has found it through Bluetooth.

Witty, warm, and painted with genuine respect for the tradition it's playing with — this is a piece that makes you smile every time you walk past it, and then makes you think.