Two Madonnas

For reasons, that are not all clear to me I've got into my head an idea that it would be cool to make an oil painting of the classic Christian subject: Madonna and a Child - and make it in a very slow and traditional layering technique.

One of the reasons that I do comprehend is that I'm a Leonardo da Vinci fanboy, and especially like his Virgin on the Rocks .

Leonardo idealized his models mercilessly, and there's a huge difference between the realism of some his sketches, and the final painting.

I've been attempting the same with this stock photo by *desireisposion
[link] (or, it's a slightly different one, I think she's deleted the one I've downloaded and used)

I thought it would be interesting to see what I could come up with if I work with that esthetic.

(The reason for choosing it is her chin + the dramatic light that makes it easy to get 3D feeling to it)

The figure on the left is a Leonardo copy, and the one on the right from the stock photo treated the same way.

Charcoal and conte on brown paper.