This Friday's Afternoon Challenge Question: "what pierces me."

[CTyankee]

Great art works have “moments” within them that take can our breath away with their poignancy, their passion, their urgency or their beauty.

Here are six of such “moments” for you to identify...both work and artist.

(if ya’ll would like to post your favorite art “moment” please do!)
1.


2.

3.

4.

5.
IMG]
6.

[Bluerthanblue]

1. oh boy!! think I know the first one

Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son?

[CTyankee]

2. Yep, thought it would be the first to be guessed...but I love it so...

[Bluerthanblue]

4. me too- I think I might know who did #5 as well, but don't know

the title. (JSS)?

(I love your challenges, but don't often know the answers)

[CTyankee]

11. You are doing very well...

[suffragette]

18. Your clue helped me find it

What interesting gazes in this painting.

[MuseRider]

3. I have sen the first one.

Not saying anything. Again, not knowledgeable enough. BUT I do know the first one. :-) YAY me!

Edit and I can't spell! I see I was correct. I never really appreciated that painter until I ran smack dab into his originals hung properly. Now I simply can't understand how anyone could use light like he did.

Edit again to say, "that painter" becomes Rembrandt

[CTyankee]

5. Incredible, isn't it? This is particularly poignant I think...

[MuseRider]

8. I agree.

I am thinking about that last one. I KNOW I know the painter but I just can't pull the name up, Also the girls face. I have no idea but it makes me think of Renoir.

[CTyankee]

12. IT is a painting that poses a quandary to me...she is probably the center of my question...

[suffragette]

16. I was thinking the same on #5

Something about the forthright gaze.

[catrose]

20. Botticelli, yes?

[CTyankee]

21. No, there are no Botticelli here...which one are your referring to? nt

[blogslut]

6. #4 Is titled: Rape of Proserpina

By Bernini

[CTyankee]

10. Yes, beautiful isn't it? That detail is exquisite...just breathtaking...

I saw it in the Borghese in Rome, a great museum. It was a wonderful experience...

[TorchTheWitch]

7. why does the friday question almost always revolve around paintings?

[CTyankee]

9. Perhaps my interest in art explains it...I have had SOME non art related but

I am open to suggestions!

[TorchTheWitch]

17. suggestion: something besides paintings n/t

[CTyankee]

22. Thank you for your suggestions! I will give this serious thought.

Tell me what subject you would like to see explored on my Friday AFternoon Challenge Questions! I can adapt....

[CTyankee]

25. Good. Any ideas? I have done places which are pretty good to delve into. such

as Places people wrote at or about...that was a fun challenge...I used photos of places where authors had created or at least started thinking about creating a work about. It was a great thread...give me your ideas...I'd love to do them...

[Frank Booth]

38. I like the challenges with art.

This is a nice way to learn some new things and see some nice art. The John Singer Sargent painting, for example, is beautiful.

[CTyankee]

40. It IS beautiful but also chilling to me...the older girl's stare and the

isolation of the little girl on the carpet, the servants in the shadows...

[suffragette]

13. #6 Madonna and Child with two angels - Filippo Lippi

I love the expression on the face.
Ah, I so would enjoy going to the Uffizi again.
It's been soooooooo long ago now.

[CTyankee]

14. How wonderful that you knew it and you love it so!

How do you know this work?

I can't get over that little angel, just smiling out at us at how he helped the child up to his mother's lap! I'm not religious but this is a winner!

Saw it in the Uffizi just last September...an art trip of my lifetime!

[suffragette]

15. A vacation long ago

when I lived in Germany for a few years.
Went to Vicenza, Venice, Florence, Genoa (sort of), Diano Marina, Nice and back up through Switzerland.

Only 3 days in Florence, but amazing there.

Did have to jog the memory. At first, I was thinking Botticelli because of the attitude, but got to Lippi fairly quickly.

Thanks for the memory.

[CTyankee]

19. How lovely! Great story...Lippi's maddone are legend...

[CTyankee]

23. #s 2 and 3 have not been guessed. Here are some hints....

2 is a martyred saint by a very FAMOUS artist...

3 is an early Renaissance artist whose fresco here is in Florence...

[Frank Booth]

24. Has #5 been guessed?

[CTyankee]

26. Well, what is your guess?

[blogslut]

27. I am still looking for the title

But that's a John Singer Sargent painting or I'll eat my hat.

EDIT ADD: The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit

[CTyankee]

28. Wow, you are GOOD!

Her gaze is so hypnotizing...she is inscrutable but also a liitle strange...

[blogslut]

30. I've done a lot of looking at Sargent's paintings

...and have become fairly familiar with his style. When I first saw this example today, I thought it look like something he had done but I was too lazy to research it, especially after I had gotten that Bernini one in one click by typing "rape sculpture" into teh Google image finding machine.

Bernini, I don't know. Sargent, I'm more familiar with. :hi:

[CTyankee]

31. Bernini is so dramatic and so interesting...no wonder you were into it.

AND he's all over Rome!

Sargent is coming back, esp. here in NE because of the new wing of the Museum of Fine ARts in Boston (a great museum, IMO)...

[MuseRider]

33. Wow

when viewing the entire painting it looks entirely different. Thanks I did not know this painter or his works, at least not well enough to bring him to mind.

[maryf]

49. Apollo and Daphne?

here's my favorite Bernini:



and her heart is literally being pierced...

[CTyankee]

29. OK, folks, we are down to # 2 and #3.

#2 is a really famous artist that so many of you know and LOVE. He has surpassed Michelangelo as the most famous painter in Italy. You know him and love him. He lived a famously disolute life and his death was a mystery....

#3 is a really famous artist in the EARLY renaissance. He died young so he only contributed a few works but what he did was incredible! He is very famous for his portrayal of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the garden...

[horseshoecrab]

32. # 3 Masaccio

#3 is a detail from Masaccio's "Baptism of the Neophytes," one of the Brancacci Chapel frescos.

I hadn't been familiar with Masaccio until now, so thank you for those clues CTyankee.

Masaccio died young at age 26, rumored to have been poisoned by another artist.

[CTyankee]

35. Are you a big fan of Masaccio's?

So few people know his works...

[horseshoecrab]

44. I am now...

although I was totally unaware of Masaccio before.

Now, in researching for this challenge I find that he is really the "father" of scientific perspective and realism, having been heavily influenced by both sculpture and architecture. Everyone thereafter is in some way influenced by him.

Thanks for the introduction to Masacchio. :-) Thanks too for these challenges each week. I learn so much and it's wonderful to see that others do too!



horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

45. Get thee to Florence to see this!

Google his "Holy Trinity" which is a textbook example of the use of linear perspective...it is in the church of the Santa Maria Novella, which I passed every day walking from my hotel...

We walked over to the Brancacci Chapel from the convent of St. Marco where we viewed the Annunciation by Fra Angelico and his frescoes in all of the monks cells...it is said he painted the crucifixion scenes with tears streaming down his face. We passed a della Robbia on the facade of the Spedale degli Innocenti...

Florence is like this...you wander around and can't help bumping into some of the most magnificent art masterpieces of western culture...it is profound...and relentless!

[horseshoecrab]

50. I would love to!

My g-grandmother honeymooned in Florence in 1903! It would have been wonderful to have learned more about her time in Florence, but that was not to be.

Someday I'd love to see Florence. Your experience sounds simply fantastic! :-)

[CTyankee]

51. Great about your great grandmother. I assume you've read "Room with a View"

and seen the movie...talk about romantic!

[suffragette]

34. #2 "Burial of St Lucy" - Caravaggio

And whoa - even with the hints I had to search through the back door for that one.

[CTyankee]

36. How did you search for it?

This, btw, is my favorite Caravaggio...

[suffragette]

39. It took some time and is a bit morbid

Dissolute led me to Caravaggio fairly quickly because of these news articles:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012127754_apeuitalycaravaggio.html

But combining his name with saint, martyr, etc did not bring up the painting.

So, I went back to the image itself and a combo of Catholic upbringing (long lapsed) and having seen so many paintings and sculptures of martyrs in Europe led me to look for a clue to her martyrdom. (Hmm, I guess in this way I was viewing the painting as people did in the past since they would identify by the image itself, the martyr in it.) That was tough since it was so subtle in the painting - just the smallest nick to her neck. That was not as distinctive as others, such as Catherine with the wheel. And I even found Saint Lucy/Lucia at one point, but the images were more strongly connected to her eyes rather than her throat, so I kept looking at other saints- see below. But I noticed her throat being cut was mentioned, combined her name with Caravaggio and found the painting.

[CTyankee]

41. Wow,you did your research!

I had tried to see this painting when I was in Siricusa, Sicily in 2005,but the museum was closed (it was December) and they had sent to work to Florence for restoration. As you can see from the full picture there is significant damage in the background.

I had done an Independent Study on Caravaggio in grad school and part of my Master's Final Project was on this painting...

[suffragette]

42. I'm sorry you weren't able to see it, especially

with your strong connection to it.

When I went to the Uffizi, Primavera was being restored and I had so hoped to see it there.

I guess that's an excuse for me to try to go to Florence again and you to go back to Sicily.

The search itself was fun. I so enjoy your threads and learn so much, even from the other paintings I encountered in searching for the Caravaggio.

I am intrigued by Cossa's depiction, with Saint Lucy holding her eyes like a flower and looking askance at them.

Realize you can't possibly synthesize your Master's here, but could you share some of your thoughts on Caravaggio's painting?

[CTyankee]

43. Well, some famous critic once said Caravaggio was our first "cinematic" artist.

Eerie how he precedes film, isn't it?

Since that time I've studied more history of art and am still studying on my own, but I'm still impressed with Caravaggio. Peter Robb has a fabulous book on him: very insightful and funny as hell. It's worth the read.

Historically, Caravaggio went into oblivion not long after his death. His followers died out and with them, his dramatic style. He has come back like gangbusters, hasn't he?

I'm impressed still by the tenderness in the treatment of sorrow and suffering. St. Lucy is one prime example. Also, Death of the Virgin and the Crucifixion of St. Peter (and the one of St. Andrew). His humor is evident in Flight into Egypt -- a very funny take with Joseph holding up the "sheet music" so the angel can play his flute!

You probably know that he got into trouble with some of his commissions and they were summarily carted off after the patrons took one look at them! Such was the situation with the original St. Matthew and the Angel (destroyed in WWII bombing of Berlin -- we only have a black and white photo of it) and the Death of the Virgin (which Peter Paul Rubens saw and advised his patron to buy!). That original St. Matthew was a real "screw you"...You can see all three of the Matthews in a little church in Rome where they have been since he painted them...you throw some euro change in a box and the lights go on for 15 minutes...Death of the Virgin is in the Louvre.

I think Caravaggio is one of a kind, altho he had devoted followers. Here is a painting by one of them (Ribero):


Thanks for asking!

[suffragette]

46. Thanks. This is fascinating.

I did not know any of the above.
I was an English major and never even took an art class in college. There was one I did want to take. Sadly, it wasn't offered while I attended.
All I've learned has come from going to museums and reading. I've seen some of his works, but knew nothing about him until now - thanks for that!
As you have probably noticed, I am curious and enjoy searching out new info. I'll definitely look into more about what you posted.

[CTyankee]

47. The Teaching Company has some great lectures on DVD.

That's the folks who go around looking for the best college professors in their fields to lecture for them in a wide variety of subjects.

Also, on Youtube you can check out the series "The Power of Art" by Simon Schama. His first segment is on Caravaggio. There is also the book by the same name, which I read. I highly recommend the TV series. Schama is an excellent speaker.

[suffragette]

48. I'll definitely look into these

Thanks again!

[xchrom]

37. Recommend