The Friday Afternoon Challenge for your beautiful minds: The Art of the Altarpiece! Part I.

[CTyankee]

Some of the most beautiful art in western civilization has been expressed in altarpieces over several centuries. Your challenge, of course, is to name the altarpiece and the artist who created it.

And remember the Honor Code here, please...use of image location apps or techniques are not allowed...but research is fine. Take into consideration style or era, color, form and even costume...

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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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Glorious, all of them!

Alas, I have no idea of the answers...

But they are beautiful.

Thank you!

[CTyankee]

5. You are so welcome! I'm so glad I can share these discoveries with folks here...

sometimes when I research I find stuff I never knew was out there...so I get a lot out of doing this...

[pinboy3niner]

2. Oh, sure. NOW you post it, just when I'm ready for naptime.

[longship]

3. #6 looks early.

Could it be from a medieval church?

I am out of my element here, but love these Friday escapades into a new area for me. I miss you when the Friday Challenge goes on vacation.

Happy to R&K. Just wish I could contribute more.

[CTyankee]

4. These altarpieces range over 3 centuries...

[jberryhill]

6. #1 - Church of the Holy Helmet

That's one of the key pieces of evidence that ancient aliens visited earth and left behind a memory of their space helmets.

The damage to #5 was never repaired, in contrast to the meticulous preservation of #2, leading to the adage of "If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it."

[pinboy3niner]

8. "If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it."

[jberryhill]

9. If you look closely

Among the animals you can see a form that is usually called a Roccoco Raccoon.

One day his woman ran off with another guy...

[BainsBane]

11. a true art connoisseur

I can tell

[jberryhill]

12. I put the "sewer" in "connoisseur"

[BainsBane]

14. We need someone to class up the joint

[pinboy3niner]

34. Roccoco Raccoon is a DUzy, lol!

[calimary]

140. This whole damn sequence is a DUzy!!!

I AM LOVING THIS!!!!

[jberryhill]

7. #4 - Exchange of the Gifts of the Magi

#4 is based on one of the apocryphal Gospels in which baby Jesus didn't like one of the gifts brought by the three wise guys from the East, so he went back to the store to trade it for a gift certificate instead, leaving the two remaining wise guys to wonder if their gifts were okay.

[BainsBane]

10. I'm going to guess countries

No way I can name the artist and alter piece.


These are complete guesses, no investigating.

I think one looks Eastern Orthodox, perhaps Russia?
2. Italy, maybe Rome?
3. Holland?
4. Spain
5. Sistine chapel, Michelangelo (I did google to verify)

6. Looks austere, perhaps Franciscan. Mexico, maybe?

I'll be very happy if just one is right.

[CTyankee]

15. You have #2 exactly right! It resides in Rome!

Sorry, no Sistine Chapel here.

All are in Western Europe, no Eastern Orthodox.

[BainsBane]

16. That's sad. I even googled

[CTyankee]

19. It looks so much like it, doesn't it?

But, alas, no Michelangelo here...

[BainsBane]

21. I tell you, googling alter piece gets me no where

There are way too many of them.

[CTyankee]

22. I know. You have to look at style and era...

For instance, when you look at #1 and then #2 you are looking at two different eras of art altho #2 is in Rome and #1 is not. By the time we get to the era of #2, artists were no longer painting in gold. It had literally gone out of style.

MAJOR HINT ON #6: It is part of a very famous polyptych altarpiece...not in rome...

[BainsBane]

24. This is all above my pay grade

In the 18th century Brazilian Churches were laden with gold because they were the world's largest producer of gold at the time. I know the Mexican churches tend to show very macabre versions of the crucifixion with a strong emphasis on suffering. That has to be the Franciscan influence. I have no idea what was in style in Europe.

The gold in Europe had to come from West Africa. The Portuguese began trading along the west coast in the 15th century.

I think it's interesting that one of the three wise men is depicted as black, a Moor, I suppose. That's why I said Spain. I was wrong though.

[CTyankee]

25. There are a number of depictions of black individuals in paintings done outside of Spain in the 16th

centuries. Interesting!

[CTyankee]

26. I stayed with the better known painters of altarpieces back in that day...

You are right. There are tons of painters who did altarpieces. I stuck with the best known today...

[BainsBane]

32. well, the same ones keep turning up

and you don't have them. Regardless of what terms I enter, the Altarpiece of Ghent turns up.

[Kingofalldems]

13. #1 looks like the crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven

That's all I got.

[CTyankee]

18. I don't know if that is the exact title, but it is the subject, certainly...

[bvar22]

17. Beautiful and Mystical.

DURec!

[Aerows]

20. I'm guessing #4

is of the "Three Kings of the Orient" but I couldn't tell you in a million years where any of these are. All interesting though, particularly #4, to me, for some reason.

[CTyankee]

23. #4 is different from the others, as you can see. And in a different country whose style was quite

different...you are right with the subject of #4...

[Aerows]

27. It seems a lot more detailed

in a different kind of way. The men aren't quite so curvy and the darker king is wearing spurs. Is that a clue?

[CTyankee]

28. well, being from a different culture accounts for that. I think it is also a lot "earthier" and less

"ephemeral" than the others. For one thing, there are no floating people in the air. And Mary looks like she could be a grandma!

[Aerows]

40. Thanks for posting it

It is beautiful

[Aerows]

41. I'm sorely lacking in Art Education, CTYankee

But I truly adore these challenges, even though I can't guess - what I do get is an enrichment I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Thank you for making Friday an interesting, often puzzling, and always beautiful day of the week!

[CTyankee]

63. Thanks. You are very sweet...

[BainsBane]

29. is 4 German?

or the general area we now call Germany?

[Aerows]

42. One of the guys is wearing spurs

So I think that means something. I don't know what, and the fact that they all have beards stands out, too.

I know nothing of art, I just take in details. You can see a clearly Asian man there in the painting, too. It's like the search for unification or something.

EDIT: Oh Duh, Aerows. Desire for unification under Christ.

[BainsBane]

43. It's the three kings,

the wise men, the magi, visiting the baby Jesus and Mary.

[BainsBane]

44. Also it's not in Italy

everything else is in Italy, I think.

[Aerows]

46. I thought Spain

But I don't know enough to follow the topic, so I just listen to everyone else trying to figure it out, too !

[BainsBane]

47. I guessed that too. I was wrong. I just found it

will post below

[Aerows]

49. Not in Italy for certain

because CTYankee pointed out, people weren't flying. That seems to be a fingerprint of Italian art. Not that I know, I'm just learning things.

[jberryhill]

30. The weird thing about #3

...is that one of the panels appears to be an ecclesiastical proceeding of some kind - some sort of investiture or trial.

Unless it is one whacked out Trial Before Pilate, I can't see why something like that would be on an altar piece unless perhaps it is in a chapel dedicated to some saint who is depicted in some important career event.

But, still, an earthly event like that on an altar piece seems weird.

[BainsBane]

45. It's the Pope and the college of cardinals in the top panel

[jberryhill]

51. Yeah, but why on an altar piece?

Nobody ever worshipped them but themselves.

The reason for all that art in churches was due in part to illiteracy. Now, sure, I can see church history going in the stained glass windows, some of the various statuary and so on, but above the altar? Or sometimes you have various church officials as characters within some Biblical or otherworldly tableaux. But the point of an altarpiece is a view into something spiritual or inspirational, not the annual stockholder's meeting.

[BainsBane]

59. Because the Vatican commissioned the work

I bet you anything.

[jberryhill]

60. "Salvation, brought to you by Carl's Jr."

[pinboy3niner]

52. The scene with the picnic table is 'Resurrection of a Boy'

Michelangelo was an apprentice of this artist, Ghirlandaio.

[jberryhill]

53. And again, why?

The resurrection of what boy? There is no resurrection story involving a boy. Was this some local miracle?

The painting should be (a) something about Jeus, preferably death or resurrection, (b) an "artists rendering" of Heaven and sometimes Hell too, or (c) at the very least a Bible story of some kind. Occasionally, it will be about some locally revered saint or martyr. But not some stuff that someone just made up (I mean, relatively speaking of course).

[pinboy3niner]

64. ...

[jberryhill]

67. Win!

[pinboy3niner]

54. More on the courtroom scene...

The banker Francesco Sassetti commissioned Ghirlandaio to paint frescoes in the Sassetti chapel in the church of Santa Trinita in Florence. This is considered to be the artist's masterwork.

The theme is the life of St Francis.

This picture contains several of the artists patrons, and includes:- On the right, in the foreground, are Sassetti's brother-in-law, the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia Antonio Pucci; Sassetti's employer, Lorenzo de' Medici; Francesco Sassetti himself and his son Federico.

http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Ghirlandaio.html

[jberryhill]

55. Which St. Francis

And where is this thing, specifically?

[pinboy3niner]

56. I've gotten a few bits of info by searching

But I'm juggling a few things here, so I haven't gotten any farther yet. Search the artist's name and the work for more.

[jberryhill]

57. Well I've gotten all my information from you

...and it's easier for me to ask targeted questions so I don't have to read all that stuff.

Take your time.

[pinboy3niner]

58. Heh heh

[BainsBane]

118. Excellent!

I believe we've got all of them now.

[CTyankee]

70. OK, here's the deal, jberryhill. This altarpiece was not created in Rome. Rome was prominent in this

particular era, but it became so after, when the show moved on down the road to Rome...

The whole sponsorship of paintings was different. Who pays the piper calls the tune, so to speak...

[jberryhill]

73. Okay, but what's the deal with the resurrected boy?

Fair enough. I saw a Savoy family chapel once, starring the Savoy family, but at least they were lugging around the shroud in the paintings.

[CTyankee]

77. You have to put this work by Piero in the context of the Black Death. Piero was an early Italain

Renaissance painter who studied in Florence under Massaccio, left and went back to his hometown and area to paint. The whole region had reeled from the overwhelming impact of the Plague of the 14th century, and it must surely have tested the faith of even the most devout. This Altarpiece is meant to serve as a comforting thought of Christ's triumph over death. The confraternity of Miseracordia were assigned the grim task of burying the dead. The predelle in this painting serve this extra-liturgical function. I am not sure of the source of the story behind this particular predella piece, but I have seen similar ones elsewhere. My source, Bruce Cole in his 1990 book on Piero, does not identify the "story."

Massaccio had an overwhelming influence over Piero. Massaccio himself is revered by art historians as a huge "game changer" in the art of the early Italian Renaissance. Compare this work of Piero's to Massaccio's "Crucifixion" scene: and you will see what I mean.

[BainsBane]

31. I know 6, in Tuscany, Piero della Francesca

Piero della Francesca, Polyptych of Misericordia: Crucifixion, tempera and oil on panel, Sansepolcro, Museo Civico
1445-1462

[CTyankee]

74. Did any of my hints help?

BTW, I will be going there in March, with a small group of art crazies (that's me!). We'll be on what is called 'The Piero della Francisca Trail," or the circuit of towns (and one city, Arezzo) where he painted, in the eastern part of Tuscany.

This panel, from the polyptych's pinnacle, is interesting and very problematic for art historians. When you see the rest of the work, it becomes evident that this panel is not as fine a work as the central panel. There are theories that Piero was a very slow painter and had to move on from this work and this panel and the others were done by assistants, however very much in his style.

Here is a link to the entire thing and you can see what I am talking about

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File iero,_Pala_della_misericordia.jpg

[BainsBane]

76. Yes because I never heard of a polyptych before you mentioned it

Your link doesn't work.

[CTyankee]

79. sorry. Here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Piero,_Pala_della_misericordia.jpg

[BainsBane]

80. Who is the guy in the blue cloak that's in everything?

Has to be an apostle, but which one?

[pinboy3niner]

87. I think it's "that Dutch guy"

[CTyankee]

114. No, I told you that I locked all of them in the basement for this thread and they're pretty mad

about it...

[BainsBane]

123. A German got out though

[CTyankee]

124. The Dutch didn't want him there anyway...

[CTyankee]

88. My guess is you are referring to Bernardino of Siena, who was who was canonized five years afer this

this painting. Evidently, it was common to affix a halo "pre-canonization" in those days (!). Bernardino was revered for his preaching in that time in that part of Tuscany, and was invoked to help stop the plague, along with Sebastian, also pictured here.

[BainsBane]

89. They all paint him identically

Same bald head, same blue cloak. I've seen him in several things looking the same.

Why would he be knocking around with Jesus though?

[BainsBane]

91. No, I think it's Saint Peter

The one in the lower left of Raphael's Transfiguration and number 2 above.

[CTyankee]

93. Yes! Especially considering the subject of the painting to the LEFT of the altarpiece in 2.

It is a depiction involving Peter. I'm surprised no one has identified it. LOOK CLOSELY...

[BainsBane]

95. It's very difficult to see

Perhaps the Passion.

[BainsBane]

96. Caravaggio. Even I have heard of him

Caravaggio's depiction of the crucifixion of Apostle Peter.

Location, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

[pinboy3niner]

100. Beat me to it. I missed it by that much...

[BainsBane]

101. That's not the altar piece

It's the painting to the left. I did get the altarpiece too.

[pinboy3niner]

102. I know

But getting the painting to the left can lead to identifying the altarpiece (as you did), because it pins down the location. St. Peter was a good clue.

[BainsBane]

104. I knew it didn't make sense it was some later saint

had to be an apostle to make sense in the pictures. I'm going to bed. Good luck with your search.

[CTyankee]

111. Yep. My bad! I meant that the painting to the left could lead one to the Carracci since Caravaggio

certainly eclipses Carracci in fame today.

You sure DO get credit for all of them...great work!

[CTyankee]

106. You're good at this art history thing!

Did you study Caravaggio in college?

[BainsBane]

115. No, I never studied art history

I've just learned of a few artists here and there.

[CTyankee]

117. You have an excellent eye for art. You seem to "get" the essence of the picture...

[BainsBane]

119. This is the first time I've done one of your challenges

I've only peeked in before but never hunted anything down. I became obsessed with finding them and learned at lot from this. Thank you!

[CTyankee]

120. Glad you're here...

[pinboy3niner]

121. First time? Wow! You did great work tracking these down.

Especially for a heathen.


Well done!

[BainsBane]

122. Thanks

We did it together!

[BainsBane]

97. Got it! Carracci, the Assumption, number 2

Assumption of the Virgin Mary, by Annibale Carracci
Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome

[CTyankee]

108. There you go! Wonderful scouting...

Carracci was pretty damn good, but overshadowed greatly by Caravaggio, his contemporary. Do you remember a Challenge I did a while ago that featured one of the strangest renderings of one of the strangest memes in the early Italian Baroque genre, attributed to Carracci: (that some art historians now attribute to Domenichino, an assistant to Carracci)

This is called the Madonna di Loreto, supposedly the story of how the Holy Family's actual house got from Palestine to Loreto, Italy. Caravaggio's take on this in HIS version of Madonna di Loreto would have nothing to do with flying houses!

[pinboy3niner]

33. #1: Giotto di Bondone - Baroncelli Polyptych (1334)

The original frame of this five-part altarpiece no longer survives. Beneath the central panel the altar is described as OPUS MAGISTRI JOCTI (Work of the Master Giotto). Many angels and saints have come together in a radiant assembly. They all want to be part of the coronation of the Mother of God by her son. In the rows at the front kneeling angels make music, in those at the back the looks and gestures of those present are oriented towards the central event.

Both the highly packed hosts of angels praising the Virgin and the huge figures in the central panel indicate that considerable assistance was needed for this work. Giotto no longer worked with a few individual assistants, but now had a well-organized studio. We are beginning to identify a number of Giotto's own relations and well-known artists.

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giotto/z_panel/5baronce/0baronce.html

[BainsBane]

35. So it is

4 more to go

[pinboy3niner]

36. Good job on #6, btw

[BainsBane]

38. You too

I was really looking for the one you found. I think this challenge is especially hard because we're heathens.

[CTyankee]

92. many former Cathlolics remember scenes such as these from childhood depictions. I was brought

up vaguely Protestant so I had no idea about all this saint stuff in art. I feel a bit deprived in a way...

[BainsBane]

94. One of the Madonna and child I keep running across was on my grandma's wall

She was Catholic.

[BainsBane]

99. A copy of this Raphael was in my grandma's living room

Sistine Madonna Painted for Pope Julius II as His Present to City of Piacenza Italy 1512-1513

Not all of it, just the close up of the Madonna and child.

[CTyankee]

112. I wonder if she had any idea that his model for the Madonna was his mistress, Margharita

Last edited Sat Aug 17, 2013, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Luti, of "La Fornarina" fame...

[BainsBane]

116. I'm pretty sure she did not.

[BainsBane]

39. in Florence

That's the one I like best.

[CTyankee]

83. I chose it for its "knockout" quality and effect!

The gold effect of course. If you go to the works of Fra Angelico you see further use of gold but he was an early Renaissance guy (Giotto is from the preceding era termed International Gothic). He also used the most gorgeous shade of pink I have ever experienced in art. My Italian art history prof in Florence always referred to him as "Beato" in her low contralto, almost whispering it in reverence for the guy....

Here's a Beato treat for your eyes:

[BainsBane]

86. That is beautiful

I like number 5 the least. Would that be called Mannerism?

[CTyankee]

90. Funny you picked up on that...but, no, technically he is High Renaissance. However, that era

directly preceded Mannerism, so what you picked up on -- the bodies floating in the air -- was a feature of Mannerist painting. Some of Michelangelo's works are considered somewhat "Mannerist."

Personally, I like #5 for that assemblage of angel musicians. I am fascinated by the instruments! Also , that little putti on the right and the rope thing...I can't figure that out on my own...will have to research later...

[suffragette]

98. The rope parts are interesting.

They look to be on both sides and in both cases look tied to their legs.
Are the areas they extend to meant to look like that or is some of the paint missing?

Very odd, indeed.

Thanks as always for the Friday thread.

[CTyankee]

109. it's damaged. I wonder how...but it IS 500 years old...

I have found that lots of these little details in paintings of that day included a visual reference to some local myth or some obscure religious doctrine...I'll put this one on my "to do research on" list!

[suffragette]

132. I wonder if the damage is accidental or not

And am very curious to know what was in the two panels that extend from the ropes and what the ropes signify. If you find out, let me know!

[CTyankee]

138. Actually, I DID do a preliminary search for analysis on that work but came up with nada.

If I get nowhere after I talk to my local library's research person (who knows me pretty well by now!) I will drive over to Yale Sterling Library. Even non-yale affiliated folks can use it but cannot take books out. It's a gorgeous library...

[suffragette]

103. #5 Assumption Filippo Lippi

[pinboy3niner]

105. Nice!

I finally found it on the altar wall of the Carafa Chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carafa_Chapel

[CTyankee]

110. Actually, no. It is by his son, Filippino, and Lucrezia Buti...

Last edited Sat Aug 17, 2013, 07:12 PM - Edit history (1)

the back story is quite a read! The elder Lippi was a monk who seduced a young novitiate nun while supervising a convent in nearby Prato. She was his model for several Madonnas and little Filippino was the model for the Christ Child (she also did a stint for him as Salome). While scandalous, the Pope considered the matter and said "Eh! I'll relax your and her vows and you can get married" since he was doing all these marvelous art works for the Church. But Lippi didn't follow through and marry her. They went on to have another child. His self portraits reveal that he wasn't very great looking, kind of a dumpy looking guy, so go figure...

[suffragette]

131. Ah well, all in the family!

Would this be the elder Lippi's wife then?

[pinboy3niner]

133. It's Lucrezia Buti, his mistress and mother of Filippino

It was included in a Challenge in January, and CTyankee noted this detail then:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2261264

Lucrezia also is mentioned on Lippi's wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Lippi

[suffragette]

134. Thanks! I missed that one.

[CTyankee]

136. No, I phrased it poorly and I can see why you mistook it...

I think the irony of Lucrezia getting impregnated while she was posing as the Virgin Mary is rich. And that Pope who said "No biggie!" is pretty good, too...

[CTyankee]

113. Another thing about those "floating bodies"...

the Mannerists ditched single point perspective, a major rediscovery of the vanishing point by the Renaissance humanists and artists. All of the "balance and harmony" of the Renaissance ideal was thrown out. The human body was distorted (my major problem with El Greco, a notable Mannerist if there ever was one). Mary McCarthy talks about the Mannerist use of "candy box colors" in her book "The Stones of Florence" (now sadly out of print) as another manifestation of Mannerism, which you can readily see in Pontormo's palette. But the Baroque, pioneered by Caravaggio, came galloping in soon after and another glorious era of art began...

[CTyankee]

81. Yep. In the Church of Santa Croce in Florence.

Last edited Sat Aug 17, 2013, 09:04 AM - Edit history (3)

It is staggering to go into that church...Michelangelo's tomb is there as is Michiavelli's.

The great story about this church is about the French 19th century writer Stendahl. He nearly fainted from the experience of being in that place and had to be helped out. This phenomenon is now termed "stendahlismo" by Florentine physicians, who report that they see about 2 dozen cases a year brought on by the overwhelming impact of it all...now THERE is a bit of trivia for ya!

P.S. the piazza of that church is also where Lucy Honeychurch faints, in "A Room with a View." Loved that book, loved that movie...

at about 0:14:48 in the movie you can see the sequence in Santa Croce...

[Brother Buzz]

37. I got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The big goose egg.

I'll visit later and learn something.

[BainsBane]

48. 4. Adoration of the Magi, Albrecht Durer, 1504

Adoration of the Magi (Dürer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Albrecht Dürer, Adoration of the Magi. 1504. 99 × 113.5 cm. Oil on wood. Uffizi, Florence.
The Adoration of the Magi is a 1504 oil on wood painting by Albrecht Dürer. It was commissioned by Frederick the Wise for the altar of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, and is considered one of Dürer's best and most important works from the period between his first and second trips to Italy (1494-5 and 1505).[1][2]
In 1603 Christian II of Saxony presented the painting as a gift to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II.[3] It remained in the imperial collection in Vienna until 1792, when Luigi Lanzi, the director of the Uffizi, acquired it in exchange for Fra Bartolomeo's Presentation in the Temple.[4]
Some art historians suggest that this painting could have been the central panel of the Jabach Altarpiece.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoration_of_the_Magi_(D%C3%BCrer)

[pinboy3niner]

50. #3: Ghirlandaio - Capella Sassetti. nt

[BainsBane]

61. well done!

[CTyankee]

68. Yes! It is in the Santa Trinita Church in Florence. It stopped me dead in my tracks when I

somewhat wearily got to that Church during my art intensive there in 2010. The center panel, "Adoration of the Shepherds," was my favorite Ghirlandaio. If you google just that title, you will see a self portrait of the artist, pointing to the stone with the garland with one hand and pointing to himself with the other. Handsome devil, he was.

His stuff is rich in social history, too. The sheer beauty of the fabrics worn, the interior scenes of life in the palazzi of the rich Florentine families, the hair arrangements of the women...great stuff...

[pinboy3niner]

127. Searching the title led to an interesting page on artists including themselves in their works

Cameo Apperances in Paint
http://allthingsruffnerian.blogspot.com/2012/07/cameo-apperances-in-paint.html

[CTyankee]

130. Thanks, most of them aren't that hot looking except for Ghirlandaio and he was really hot!

Fun find, Pinboy!

[BainsBane]

62. 2. Raphael, The Altar of Transfiguration, Rome.

The Transfiguration is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the later Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) and conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France, Raphael worked on it until his death in 1520. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Unusually for a depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art, the subject is combined with an additional episode from the Gospels in the lower part of the painting.
The Transfiguration stands as an allegory of the transformative nature of representation.[1] It is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Vatican City.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_(Raphael)

[pinboy3niner]

65. Way to go!

[CTyankee]

66. No. It is not the Transfiguration by Raphael. It is of the same general era, however, so they are

"look-alikes."

[pinboy3niner]

69. Rickrolled again!

[BainsBane]

75. That guy is the blue cloak is in everything

I feel that we should have been warned these Renaissance painters were plagiarists.

[pinboy3niner]

78. I've been fooled more than once! :)

[BainsBane]

71. No way

I thought it was a different perspective. What a rip off.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_(Raphael)

[BainsBane]

72. Are my other two right?

[CTyankee]

82. YEP! Congrats!

See, what I was getting at was the difference between the Northern Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance. Interestingly, the Italian masters picked up a lot of stuff from the Northern guys. The whole Renaissance is endlessly fascinating...I even got in the weeds a bit with this Challenge...

[BainsBane]

85. You definitely did not pick the most common ones

because certain ones constantly come up and they aren't here. Ghent and some golden Byzantine ones.



From the Altarpiece, aka, (Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) at Ghent (1432) by Jan van Eyck (1390-1441)




Duccio di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, central panel of Maesta altarpiece, Siena cathedral, Siena, 1308-1311

This is my favorite


Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation 1333

[pinboy3niner]

84. Dupe of BainsBane's solution to #4 in Post #48

Last edited Sat Aug 17, 2013, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

[BainsBane]

125. Don't feel bad

I was searching for #3 for about two hours after you had found it.

[pinboy3niner]

126. The story of my Friday life, lol. nt

[calimary]

128. Dayum, I love this shit!

I swear, church art is what kept me in church. SOOOOOOooooo much to look at, study, meditate upon. I LOVED looking at the way fabric was rendered. The folds and wrinkles and drapery - I drew A LOT when I was in school. Always drawing. Most of it holy subjects like the saints, the martyrs, the Madonna and Child, Nativity scene, angels, cherubs, clouds, the Madonna without Child, what-have-you. Drawing drapery and fabric wasn't that easy for me, so I'd study it during Mass. Same for musculature, perspective, foreshortening, physical proportions, composition, movement, scenery, animals, and more. Just loved to draw. I still have a callous on my middle finger where the pencil always was braced when I held it. Always had a dark smudge along the heel and outer edge of my right hand where it rested on the drawing and got pencil marks and shadowing and other smudges on it. All through school. I'd just get lost in it.

[CTyankee]

129. Are you still an artist?

[calimary]

135. Don't draw the elaborate holy stuff anymore with the flying cherubs and goo-gaws

but I still indulge in various artistic activities as much as possible. I drew all the illustrations in this crazy little book I wrote about being a working mom (I think it's out of print now). Love jewelry-making, beading, personal adornment. Worked in polymer clay and also dichroic glass and wire-working. Made earrings out of my son's band's guitar picks and girls like 'em. We send 'em out to the female Street Teamers! I designed the band's logo, too. And when the kids were younger, I was the "art mom" at school - we did craft projects using all kinds of recycled stuff like newspaper and paper towel tubes and empty cleaned-out 2-liter bottles and stuff. Decorations for every school carnival over a three year period! THAT was great fun and the kids seemed to love it! So did their moms! I even did some recycled kids art on some HGTV shows at one point. That was ridiculously fun!

[CTyankee]

137. I'm envious. I could never do art, even tho I tried.

So the failed artist in me salutes you!

[calimary]

139. Oh yeah??? Baloney! You just haven't taken the right art class yet!

I'm a firm believer that EVERYONE has some kinda art in them. You just have to find the correct or best-fitting expression of it. ANYTHING can become an artists' medium. Found objects. Paint and brushes. Chisels and hammers. Sand. Paper and plastic cups. Glass. Globs of tar. Paper and cardboard. Rocks and pebbles - GEEZ don't get me started on rocks...

There's some middle-aged guy in our neighborhood who has taken it upon himself to create gardens in the dirt and cracked sidewalk areas around some of the older trees skirting the local post office. There was one patch of dirt where a tree had been taken out and just left. Other stuff was overgrowing, kinda ratty-looking, along the chain-link fence between the post office and a parking lot. So this guy decides to take that neglected area - where assholes had littered and dropped cigarette butts and wrappers and tree roots had broken through the surface and rag-tag weeds were sprouting here and there - and transformed it! I was just there this morning, walking my dog - and it's just so damn NICE!!!

He had designed these little gardens within that neglected space. Geraniums were growing. Scraps of colored and printed cloth were glued to the curbsides, turning them into interesting little bits of beauty. Succulents were tucked in here and there. A discarded pair of child's slippers were arranged together near clumps of "hens & chickens" and Indian Paintbrushes. He brings a couple of empty two-gallon milk jugs with him that are full of water and he probably takes more from the water fountain in the nearby dog park, and he waters his little garden beds, and they're flourishing! One little bed is "framed" with dozens of colorful plastic milk jug lids, like little teeny pavers or mosaic pieces inlaid into the dirt. Another little bed is outlined by carefully-arranged clouds of dryer lint. Another little bed is lined with pine cones and pieces of pine cone and magnolia pods and stuff. There are tomato plants growing in another little bed - and already bearing fruit! There's some mulching going on - evidently he added some wood chips and stuff. And there are nicely-delineated paths through there now, between the little separate beds in this garden. In some little spaces you spot a plastic dinosaur or toy from some kid's "Happy Meal," artfully arranged and tucked in where what's left of an old tree stump has some interesting little notches hidey-holes - almost like a leprechaun lives there. And this neglected, abandoned few square feet over along the edge of the post office grounds is suddenly a lovely little organized, fanciful, green, living, flourishing space that has curb appeal, beauty, originality, creativity, all kinds of neat little eclectic surprises and visual treats, and it's a WONDERFUL use of random materials! It's just CHARMING!!! And it's an asset to the neighborhood now. And this guy, whoever he is, just started doing it, working with a whole lotta NOTHING. NO WAY this is not art!