Cool stuff in this Friday Afternoon Challenge, folks: “That’s interesting! Who Knew?”
Factoids and back story info are in each of these works of art. Can you figure them out?
...and please, cheating here is bad. Don’t.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
But that's all I know. 
in his painting. Europa doesn't appear to be all that happy about being kidnapped by that bull, yet the artist chose to make it appear that she was being smitten by "love" by adding those multiple putti.
I don't know, being raped by a bull doesn't seem like a very loving experience to me, yet that painting has always been a very famous and beloved work of art, to this day.
Certainly a worthy endeavor to preserve it for the ages, and intense. Just the idea that they sifted through mud to find the original paint flecks to keep it as original as possible. Amazing.
EDIT: And see, I didn't know any of this before I wandered into this thread. Like I said, I always learn something in these 
Malle Babbe and thought "hm, that's weird!" and then started looking around and found van meegeren's excellent "copy," right?
It's actually a pretty damn good forgery, IMHO...
I dunno where the owl went either...
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and was thought to be insane by some, though not necessarily what Hals meant by presenting that image of her (the owl on her shoulder might mean she was simply a drunk).
Bronze Malle Babbe, by Kees Verkade (1978), located on Barteljorisstraat, Haarlem
I'm not educated in Art, at all, compared to someone who has invested lots of money and years of schooling to learn about it. I merely have always been interested in the beauty, creation, and many mysteries involved with it and, as a result, have developed a healthy respect and minuscule knowledge of some of the classics. That's why I love CTyankee's Friday Challenge every week.
As an abused child, art was sort of an escape for me, a fantasy world to disappear into, and paintings and books probably helped to keep me strong and sane. I hung a ragged print of El Greco's "View of Toledo" above my bed when I was little, as a reminder to myself that I was not the only one lost in a storm and I used to crawl on those hills with the teeny people, in my imagination. Later my curiosity made me want to find out who had painted such a scene and what he had meant by it.
Not a thing is wrong with noticing details such as the hands of the woman in that first painting. They were painted so that you would see them, ha!
but if she survived, she was worthy .
Also known as "Madonna della Pappa", it's one of only a few known works by Vanni that can be seen here, in the US, at the Yale University Art Gallery.
I cannot figure out the backstory on it, except maybe that it's an example of works painted during the Counter Reformation (Vanni was an extremely religious man).
I did a lot of searches for that (and also went to mythology for some of them) with no luck at all.
that they have at the Louvre? I found that while I was still stuck googling "Zeus and Danae"; looked similar, but it was in reverse, so it didn't click with me.
I thought that it was a bit odd that he never actually finished painting the only real nude he ever attempted. So many of his finest female portraits have teasing glimpses of nipples or bosoms, yet when he tackles the myth of a woman, he never completes the story.
but would sure love to have had you as a guide in there. I've been to the Met many times, but usually walking thru with big saucer-eyes (which makes it hard to truly view anything, ha!)
I did read that they suppose Greuze was sparked to do his Aegina because he'd seen Rembrandt's Danae. After delving into his life a little more, I do feel a tad sorry for the guy, who, like so many others, died a sad old man.
Once again, I had a ball with this week's mysteries, and I thank you for all your efforts in preparing it for us!
