La Madonna Litta

What an amazing painting this is! I am a huge fan of Leonardo da Vinci. Completed around 1490, it is the kind of masterpiece that reaches into you. Perhaps it is the gaze of the child attached, or the strange combination of spirituality and earthiness in it. I won’t go on like an art critic.

But you don’t need to be an art critic to use paintings like this in arrangements. Even though there are no flowers, the colors and composition can be inspiration for flowers. In this case, look for a central red and blue and black at the extremities. Notice also the amber satin sash between the red and the blue. Look also at the unifying diagonal in flesh tones threading up through the picture via the body, breast, neck and head. These sorts of color combination, using Alstromeria and Hypericum berries say, with Roses or Lilies for the red and Iris or Larkspur for the blue, create a dramatic yet pleasing combination.

Getting ideas from great painting helps me to break away from the habitual approaches. An arrangement based on La Madonna Litta is not a subtle feminine bouquet, but a large and dramatic, yet well united piece of work.