Hey, here’s the Friday Afternoon Challenge for you: More Classy Cathedrals!

[CTyankee]

Another challenge for your beautiful minds on these great cathedrals!

(and, of course, beautiful minds won’t cheat...)
1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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[WinkyDink]

1. 1 =Seville Cathedral. Tomb of Columbus. (Been there!)

Heh. I remembered the tomb better than I did the city!

[CTyankee]

2. That tomb is impressive!

I didn't make it to Seville on my trip to Spain. But I have vowed to go back. I loved Spain!

[jberryhill]

9. Those pall bearers are freaking CREEPY

The picture doesn't really capture the ghastly look of them. They are very pale and their mourning expression makes them look like ghosts.

I was passing through Seville on a business trip and stopped by to poke about, having no idea that's where his tomb is (although the extent to which it is him is debatable, due to the long journeys of his remains) since, as you know, my knowledge of art history is squat. So, anyway, my wife had wandered off in another direction and when I found the tomb I hunted her down and said, "Hey, do you know who is in that box over there?" She, being the art historian between us said, "Doesn't everybody?"

Creepy, creepy, creepy. There's a big humungous silver whatchamacallit on the other side of the cathedral which is pretty impressive too. It's really big, humungous, and silver.

And nothing in there was painted by that Dutch guy, which surprised me.

[CTyankee]

13. Oh, goodness, what isn't creepy in places like this?

This is nothing like some stuff, like skeletons lying in state, sort of, in glass cases. It's called "memento mori" and meant for folks like you...heh...

[jberryhill]

15. I LOVE "catacomb saints"

First dead person I ever saw was in a smaller chapel a ways up the Danube from Melk, which has a bunch of them. Their outfits are FABULOUS.

Apparently there was quite the business in exhuming them in Rome and selling them to folks in Central Europe as "martyred saints" to decorate their cathedrals.

[CTyankee]

20. I don't doubt it for a minute!

[roguevalley]

19. York Minster is one of my fave places. I don't mind the medieval morbidity.

some of this is the mental anguish resulting from the plague.

[Ecumenist]

18. You sound like my husband...LOL!!!!!

[CTyankee]

24. The Dutch guy...

didn't DO cathedrals...the Protestant Reformation, right?

[jberryhill]

41. But he ended up selling a lot of paint to the ones who did

[lpbk2713]

5. Same here

During Semana Santa

That place is immense.

[CTyankee]

8. I hear semana santa there and other places is wonderful...I'd love to experience it!

[WinkyDink]

3. #6 = St. Paul's, London. (Been there, too!)

The golden mosaics are spectacular!

[CTyankee]

4. Right you are!

I've been there but it was so long ago I only remember going up the steps and tripping. My mother was so embarrassed (I was a gawky 16 year old!)...

[WinkyDink]

6. #5 = Regensburg Cathedral. (Have I mentioned I've been to most UK/European cathedrals?!)

True! Up and down the UK, because my husband and I taught Brit Lit. And the rest because, well, we travelled many summers!

I'll stop now.

[CTyankee]

7. AND you are an art lover!

I haven't been to Regensburg...would like to, tho...

[jberryhill]

10. If it ain't baroque, don't fix it!

[CTyankee]

11. and you have no monet...

[jberryhill]

14. Having monet always makes a good impression

[CTyankee]

17. I aspire to that!

[JNelson6563]

42. That's Count De MONET!

[Bruce Wayne]

12. Great pictures! I really love old-school cathedrals. I can feel at home in them.

On the other hand, you should see the view from the top of the spires. It's far more inspirational.

[CTyankee]

16. If I could get up there, I would!

Unfortunately, at my age, I will have to settle for some great photos taken from above. I treasure them!

[Tansy_Gold]

21. #2 Raising of the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens

Now in the Cathedral of Antwerp

[CTyankee]

22. Excellent, Tansy! Just excellent!

This is such an interesting work!. The Descent is a far more popular subject than the Elevation of the Cross in Western art. The dead Christ as opposed to the still living and suffering Christ is an interesting discussion!

Did you know this painting or study it?

[Tansy_Gold]

26. I know nothing

about art, but I'm pretty good at image googling. I figured it was a "descent," but "descent" didn't yield anything familiar. "Triptych," however, did the trick.

I wish I could catch these Friday challenges more often, because I always learn something, either through the showcased works or through my own googling.

[CTyankee]

34. Rubens did a Descent as well (but later). However, both are in the Antwerp Cathedral today.

Interestingly, Rembrandt copied Rubens' Descent very closely in his own Descent. Rubens is more emotional while the Rembrandt is a little more remote or perhaps more subjective. It is interesting to compare the two. Rembrandt painted later than Rubens, but he must have traveled to Antwerp to see the Rubens (altho I don't think the Descent was in the cathedral at the time, but it might have been...).

The Elevation is one of my favorite paintings, even tho I have a "love/hate' relationship with Rubens. I love the way the light is thrown on the figure of Christ, the figuration of Christ's body, the twisting figuration of the men hoisting the cross. It is a magnificent work, nonetheless, an absolute masterpiece...

[CTyankee]

23. #3 and #4 have not been identified. Any guesses?

[horseshoecrab]

25. #4

This had to be by Caravaggio - and it is.

This painting hangs in St. John Co-Cathedral in Malta and is called "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" by Caravaggio.




horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

27. It sure did! If the Caravaggio painting didn't do it, the Maltese crosses on the altar posts did!

It is in Valetta, Malta, which is the capital of the small island off the coast of Sicilia.

I love that it was painted there and it stayed there, right in the cathedral where it was intended.

The Knights of Malta, BTW, had to move on when Napoleon literally kicked them out of Malta and sent them back to Rome!

Well, they had a good run but it was time for the show to leave town!

[Tansy_Gold]

28. #3 Coronation of the Virgin, Spoleto

Fra Filippo Lippi's last work?

[CTyankee]

32. It is by Lippi. Don't know if it his last work...

[CTyankee]

33. Yep, You get the prize!

How do you know this piece?

[Tansy_Gold]

35. How do I know this piece? I don't! ;-)

But it's obviously a Coronation of the Virgin and it's on a ceiling, so that was a beginning to google. Unfortunately, the only images that came up that matched the challenge picture linked to a site with no information. I finally found a hint in one of those links to Lippi, so I modified the search terms, et voilà!

[CTyankee]

37. You know a lot if you know it is a Coronation of the Virgin! That is very helpful!

As you see more art, you begin to spot more themes of artists, and this was a big one for a pretty long time...

[CTyankee]

36. never mind, I got your answer above!

[Tansy_Gold]

39. My googling technique --

I look at the work for distinctive characteristics. Subject matter is one. That's what I used for the Rubens -- the descent from the cross. I also used cathedral for that one, and but it was finally triptych that produced the correct result.

I also learned, via the Lippi Coronation fresco, that "cathedral" and "ceiling" will yield a whole lot of images of houses with "cathedral" ceilings!!

Some time ago one of your challenge paintings was actually just a detail from a larger work, and it was of an angel playing at a pipe organ. Well, how many paintings are there of angels and organs? That one was actually quite easy to find.

My background is not in art at all, although I've taken a couple of art appreciation courses. But I know enough about church history, history in general, and so on that I can google (or bing, but it's much slower) images based on specifics.

Needless to say, this technique can result in bazillions of images popping up, so then it becomes a matter of selecting some particular visual to look for. With the Rubens, it was the shape of the Christ figure. I saw a bunch that were similar -- may have been Rembrandt?? -- that had a figure in red at the lower right. I was able to visually skip over them, because that figure wasn't in the challenge.

With the Lippi, it was all that bright blue color and the distinctive curved shape.

Wish I could say it's my superior intellect, but nope, just a lot of experience finding esoteric info on the goog.

[CTyankee]

43. this is interesting, tansy!

I often google the images I use just to see what happens, before I post my challenges. Of course, I don't always know every google command it is most imperfect!

However, my main purpose in the Challenge is not to stump people on art. It is to stimulate a conversation among intelligent and mostly art oriented people at DU into a conversation about art and what art has meant in their lives. The Challenge is just a fun way to introduce the subject and I am thrilled when anyone discovers (thru research and/or past experience) the answers! I love to hear their stories, their discoveries, their joys!).

This makes me happy...

[CTyankee]

29. MAJOR hint for #3.

think Music!

[Tansy_Gold]

30. Well THAT

went right over my head!

[CTyankee]

31. well, give it some thought...

sorry, didn't see your post above about Lippi...

[CTyankee]

38. sorry, my reference was to the Spoleto Music Festival...

[Tansy_Gold]

40. Oh, well, that one

went even FURTHER over my head!


Tansy Gold, who is often VERY culturally challenged (but never takes it seriously).. . . . . . .