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Francesco Vezzoli — Study for the November 2011 Art Issue Cover of W Magazine featuring a Rococo Portrait of Nicki Minaj as Jeanne Bécu Comtesse du Barry crying the eye of Virginia Oldoini Contessa di Castiglione
Francesco Vezzoli

Study for the November 2011 Art Issue Cover of W Magazine featuring a Rococo Portrait of Nicki Minaj as Jeanne Bécu Comtesse du Barry crying the eye of Virginia Oldoini Contessa di Castiglione

In this audacious work by Francesco Vezzoli, pop icon Nicki Minaj is reimagined as Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry, rendered in the ornate, lavish style of Rococo portraiture. A single crystalline tear — borrowed from the dramatic self-portraits of 19th-century photographer and socialite Virginia Oldoini, Contessa di Castiglione — traces down her powdered cheek, collapsing centuries of femininity, spectacle, and performance into a single charged gesture. The work blurs the boundaries between high art history and contemporary celebrity culture, casting Minaj as both muse and monarch in Vezzoli's signature meditation on fame, beauty, and the theater of identity.

🔨 Auction Lot

Contemporary Art Day Sale

October 17, 2013

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About this work

Francesco Vezzoli, Study for the November 2011 Art Issue Cover of W Magazine featuring a Rococo Portrait of Nicki Minaj as Jeanne Bécu Comtesse du Barry crying the eye of Virginia Oldoini Contessa di Castiglione

In this audacious work by Francesco Vezzoli, pop icon Nicki Minaj is reimagined as Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry, rendered in the ornate, lavish style of Rococo portraiture. A single crystalline tear — borrowed from the dramatic self-portraits of 19th-century photographer and socialite Virginia Oldoini, Contessa di Castiglione — traces down her powdered cheek, collapsing centuries of femininity, spectacle, and performance into a single charged gesture. The work blurs the boundaries between high art history and contemporary celebrity culture, casting Minaj as both muse and monarch in Vezzoli's signature meditation on fame, beauty, and the theater of identity.

Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Magazine Cover, Rococo, Conceptual, Mixed Media, Pop Art, Italian, Portrait, Fashion, Colorful, Contemporary

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