NYC advertising creative director Cecilia Azcarate has an apparent fondness for the art of the Renaissance and a gift for connecting it to the present-day. Her Tumblr Ikea B4-XIV cleverly identifies centuries-old analogues to Swedish housewares in Renaissance paintings, and she curates a Twitter feed that’s heavy with the art of that era as well. But she’s hit on a rich vein of astonishing material with her Tumblr B4-XVI, wherein she highlights “an invisible conversation between hip hop and art before the 16th century.” The connections Azcarate identifies between painted portraits from the Renaissance and photographic portraits of 21st Century rappers are, at times, frankly amazing.
 

“The Adoration of the Magi” by Hugo van der Goes VS Wiz Khalifa
 

“Portrait of Henry the Pious, Duke of Saxony” by Lucas Cranach VS Takeoff of Migos
 

“The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence,” by the Master of the Acts of Mercy VS A$AP Ferg
 

“Ecce Homo” by Quinten Massys VS 2 Chainz
 

Detail from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck VS the ATL Twins.

Previously on Dangerous Minds
A little ass music: Hieronymus Bosch’s 500-year-old butt song from Hell
Renaissance paintings recreated with modern celebrities