It's true. Britney Spears kissed Madonnas. Now she's talking in a fake British accent, like Madonna. And, upon reflection, she's even beginning to look like the Madonna. The reasons or "push factors" are myriad but at least some of this must have to do with a realisation that if she's to endure, she'll have to switch sides in the great Virgin Mother/Whore debate. After the jump, photographic evidence from the Cinquecento!

Britney Spears, Entombment, 2008.

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Penitent Mary Magdalen, 1560s.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Madonna with Child, 1640s.

Jacopo Pontormo, The Deposition from the Cross, 1548.