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Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510), most famous for Prima Vera and The Birth of Venus, presents the Magnificat in a tondo, or circular painting. A tondo was often given to a couple at their marriage or upon the birth of a child. The book in the painting is inscribed with Mary’s words Magnificat anima me Dominum (“Behold, my soul doth magnify the Lord”). With this tondo, Botticelli and the donor wish the couple a blessed and prosperous union and the safe birth of many children.

After a 20-year career as a counterfeiter, Guy Woodard was given a “forced hiatus in a federal facility.” Without access to oil paints or artist tools in prison, he decided to use a Bic pen and his nearsightedness to imitate the dots in newspaper photo prints. The result is a collection of hyperrealistic images, which often focus on issues of race and prison reform. With an upcoming Manhattan gallery show and recent works on display at Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Reformed Church (his faith community), Woodard is gaining local and national attention.