Even though I haven't a clue.

#1 looks like a UFO zapping a building.

That's all I have.

......always afraid to guess!

Is #2 something by Michelangelo?

Also, I have no idea what #3 is, but it is absolutely amazing.

#3 IS pretty amazing...it's one of things that just makes your jaw drop...

glad you like the Challenge! And I'm glad you are here!

Is the dog Van Gogh? And a wild stab that the peacock is from some thing by DaVinci.

That's all I got. Such as it is.

and the peacock is from another artist, not Leonardo...

The columns are Bernini's at St. Peter's Basilica

Man, that thing is something! Have you seen it?

... but I didn't know what I was looking at at the time. That happened a lot!

Mom and I watched Christmas service from EWTN one Christmas. She's been to the Vatican and remarked how she thought the pillars were too weird, and didn't like them. The music was good however.

So maybe that is cheating. I saw the enormous thing and the fact that it doesn't even look that large inside St. Peter's is a testament to the enormity of the Basilica. The baldacchino is 92 feet tall and sits under Michelangelo's dome; it is just about my favorite piece of sculpture.

one, Maffei Barbieri...

I don't think being a Humanities professor makes you a cheater! There is a way to really cheat, but I just ask people not to. I hope they don't. The real fun is chasing this stuff down and learning new things along the way...

Renoir?

Good luck!

But I've found different versions of the title. Tea In The Garden. Tea For Three.

I recognized the dog but could never have placed it without your hint. I was thinking more expressionist than modern for some reason. Maybe because the dog's face looks like a portrait, with spare but strong brush strokes. Or maybe it's just because I love the Expressionists.

in such closeup.

I do find "Tea in the Garden" to be un-Matisse-y!

I dozed off and got here late to the party. Give me time to catch up...

The Enunciation of St. Emidus, Carlos Crivelli, 1486. The UFO made it kind of too easy.
http://www.ufopicture.org/ufos_in_art.html

I could spend hours on it, sections at a time just marveling at all the detail. It's beautiful.

COLOR, the signature of the Veneto Renaissance.

Love the UFO...

Last edited Sat Feb 2, 2013, 02:30 AM - Edit history (1)

easy it is for folks to make THAT connection.

Thanks

Adoration of the Magi.

Good Lord. I knew it but couldn't remember why I knew it was Botticelli. Spent forever finding the name. Has something to do with teenage mutant ninja turtles. Don't ask.

Did you know this from an art history class?

I knew it because I made my boys learn a few things about painters other than those whose names were used by the ninja turtles. We actually have a statue in Florence called by our last name as a nickname. Most of them have nicks. So it was kind of an easy way to get them interested. At the time I was teaching the gifted & talented program at their school and I used whatever I could.

From there I went to Gaudi and architecture and let them go crazy as long as their work was structurally sound. They had a blast.

It's been called a museum of itself, which I think is a good description.

Now, Gaudi is another thing...kind of a head trip...I went through his house in Barcelona and I swear that guy was smoking something...

husband's family came from there and still had stories to tell. One day we'll go since there are lots of cousins there. Make a family trip of it.

It seems like you can't turn around without encountering a masterpiece. I marvel at that city. There are so many fabulous things to see that most American tourists don't know about...they go to the Accademia to see the David and walk around the Duomo and miss some great stuff...Orcagna's tabernacle at the Orsanmichele, for instance, and the huge fresco by bonauto in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella church. And I think the Pitti Palace is a waste of time spent in the Oltrarno, myself...go to the Brancacci Chapel instead...

Went once, decades ago, and had a wonderful time. It is impressive even for us who are "art-challenged."

Orvieto, too, I'll never forget. I brought home a case or two of the wine the monks made there--and I wish I had more!

is murder. Or suicide. But you just can't help it. Better to allow yourself lots of time, make a list and not plan on going crazy in one visit to the Uffizi (which is not very user friendly to begin with, so you need to beware and prioritize).

And I mean that in a good way.

You're right--you'll want to plan on spending a lot of time there. It's a glorious experience. And don't forget to stop by Orvieto...the monks there are VERY talented.

I doubt if I had any of the wine since it was a daytime stop. I guess you have to give up something...

Been looking for a few weeks. Fun stuff, even if I am no art expert.

Close, but no cigar.

But he has the devil in him. Kinda reminds me of someone...

I don't remember the name, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, it was once a "paint by number" offering!

It's not Ingres, is it? The brush strokes are too choppy. Not Bottecelli? Am I allowed to look it up when I have these clues, or no?

This appears to be a popular meme in painting...lots of cupids holding up mirrors to Venus. this one is prolly one of the most famous.

It goes by a number of names.

The Rokeby Venus (also known as The Toilet of Venus, Venus at her Mirror, Venus and Cupid, or La Venus del espejo)

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

its sketchiness shocks them...

and was even looking through the National Gallery Collection when I just couldn't stay awake any longer. I knew that wasn't an angel in the Christian sense.

why is that guy taking off his shirt?

della Francesca is an early Renaissance painter. There is actually such a thing as the "della Francesca trail" in Italy, where you can follow his stuff around from one hilltop town to another and I actually know someone who did just that (my ex-husband and a bit of an art snob). It's "fashionable" to do the trail. Here's an interesting short description from slowtravel:http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/art/pk_arttrails.htm

My favorite work by him is the one with the large egg suspended over a "sacra conversazione,"
and featuring one of his oddly oversized madonne. Art historians haggle over the meaning of "the egg," as they call it. It's actually called the Brera Altarpiece and is in Milan.

Here is a Wikipedia entry on "baptism" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baptism_of_Christ_%28Piero_della_Francesca%29

Masaccio also painting such baptisms depicting young men readying themselves for baptism: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/masaccio/baptism-of-the-neophytes-1427

"The Flagellation of Christ" is prolly his most famous painting and it is a bit of a mystery. I am not that fond of his overly white figures but his work with the Brera piece is one of extraordinary beauty:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brera_Madonna (even with the egg and the duke in gleaming armor looking a little silly...).

You might just get hooked on this artist. He IS interesting, but he is not my big favorite. I'm just not fashionable enough, I guess...

by Piero della Francesca, for the fully correct spelling.

Thanks, CTYankee, you're the tops!

Who knows, I may become a big fan of his after I experience this firsthand. But I'm a little too old to be putting around to hilltop towns in Tuscany...