In the early planning of the guitar, I was planning on using the Mona Lisa for the third fret marker. Then Harvey wisely stole her away to use on the headstock. I wanted to do a face to fill the shape, so I found a painting of a young Mary from an Annunciation scene. Maybe the most difficult single piece I did. To keep the look of innocent beauty at that scale tested every skill I hope to possess. You can see in the picture how I tried to fine tune the features.

Click here to see the rest of Mary’s portrait on Flickr.

Bob Hergert, on behalf of Martin Guitar.