A Friday Afternoon Challenge you have prayed for: Very Cool Angels (ok, one is kinda creepy...).

[CTyankee]

Assembled below are angels as they appear in details of great art works. Who painted them?

(and please, dear gentlefolk, do observe the “no cheat” rule...)
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

[mcranor]

1. Wild guess just to get things started...

These challenges are always over my head (doesn't stop me from enjoying them, though); number 5 looks like Marc Chagall, maybe from the opera house?

mc

[CTyankee]

2. Oh, goody, yes, you are right. It is Chagall.

I think it's cool that he's got these angels sitting a what looks like a picnic table at a barbecue with Abraham...that's just lovely in my mind!

[mcranor]

4. You Don't Say! Abraham?

That I could never have guessed. Closer look tells me it's a canvas (not the opera house). What do you think is going on in the upper right corner?

[CTyankee]

6. uh, oh...bet you're gonna tell me!

[monmouth]

3. "There are four corners on my bed, there are four angels on my spread,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, may God bless the bed that I lay on." Sorry, that's all I can offer but do so appreciate the beautiful art.

[CTyankee]

5. Oh, that is so sweet...

but this painting ain't sweet...it absolutely creeps me out...that angel don't look too nice to me...

[Tansy_Gold]

7. #4 just makes me think Michelangelo, but I'm probably wrong. n/t

[CTyankee]

9. no, but close in the era...

[suffragette]

8. #3 Botticelli

Reminds me of Mars in Primavera.
Wonder if it was the same model?

[CTyankee]

10. probably. Any artist that puts a corsage on angel wings can't be bad in my book!

And his levitation! And the squiggly toes! How cool is that...

Botticelli had to outdo his master Lippi and so we have this lovely outpouring from him. How lucky for us!

I am knocked out by this angel...

[suffragette]

16. He does levitation and floating so well

Didn't note the corsage until you pointed it out - lovely!

[Aerows]

20. My guess, too

Looks like the same style as Birth of Venus

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Is #4 Michelangelo?

If so, how appropriate!

It looks like his style.

:hi:

[Aerows]

19. That's my guess, too

[CTyankee]

22. No. No Michelangelo here...but you are close to the era...look at the style

as it changes from High Renaissance to.....????

[gratuitous]

12. I guessed No. 5 might be Chagall - no, really

But number 6 looks like Merry and Pippin at a night of carousing in the Green Dragon just outside Hobbiton. But you say it's angels, huh? O-o-o-kay.

[CTyankee]

23. Yep. First one guessed above...a charming and lovely work...

[CTyankee]

24. Yep, this is where the 15th century could just go crazy on stuff. It is in a larger

work celebrating a big deal in heaven...so of course they are dancing...I think it is charming...

[some guy]

13. # 1 = Dali?

:D

I don't know anything else about it, but I think it might be Dali.

[CTyankee]

25. No, Dali could go over the top but #1 definitely belongs to the 15th century...

the get-up of this angel probably wouldn't have been tolerated later...look at the stripes!

[blaze]

35. Hmmm How are the stripes significant? nt

[CTyankee]

38. Well, I wondered about that but the red and white business didn't make any sense.

I dunno. Maybe the artist just wanted to be "out there" and felt he could be with the subject of the painting...rejoicing, and all that...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Number 6 is the Furniture Twins, the Keno brothers

On Antiques Roadshow.

That was a very bad joke. :D

Got no idea, except for the Chagall which has already been identified.

[yardwork]

59. LOL!

[Edweird]

15. Did you ever notice how in the Bible,

when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel?
- 'The Prophecy' 1995

[CTyankee]

26. You have nailed the truth of one of these paintings....which one?

[malaise]

17. One day I'll get them

:hi:

[Aerows]

18. Is 3 Botticelli?

I can't figure out the others. 4 maybe Michaelangelo?

[CTyankee]

27. #3 yes. # 4 no

[Aerows]

21. Dumb question about #4

Why are the angels legs blue? Is that purposeful, or is that because of age? It looks so odd for him to have a golden chest and then blue legs. I thought at first they were tights, but you can see his toes.

[CTyankee]

28. maybe because this is the era for that...I usually dislike this era but I make an exception

for this artist because his hand is so fine. But things got a little weird after the high Renaissance until it all settled down in the Baroque. In between it was difficult, but I like the way this artist dealt with it...crazy, tho it is...oh well.

Also, the whiteness of the skin here...that is a disturbing thing about this era...people got very bleached out...you have to wonder what happened...in the Renaissance everybody had normal skin and then, boom. everybody got as white as sand on a beach...what the hell...?

[Aerows]

29. So it was purposeful

Interesting. Maybe from a distance it looks better. It just struck me as sort of peculiar to see the golden chest and the blue legs and arms.

[CTyankee]

30. I really have to wonder about this period of art. It mystifies me.

What I "think" is that folks were weirded out by the Reformation and the religious wars and they just got crazy. But I really don't know...it's an oddity...

[horseshoecrab]

40. Michael the Archangel's legs

Aerows, not a dumb question for sure!

I googled St. Michael legs Bronzino and found that art historian Janet Cox-Rearick addresses this! She seems to theorize that the golden torso is a sort of diaphenous armor, while the limbs are done in a "marble-like sculptural" style in homage to Michelangelo's sculptures. She presents a lot of evidence that Bronzino was quite an admirer of Michelangelo.

Here's a link to that. Hope it works.
http://books.google.com/books?id=u0qDanMDrtQC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=bronzino+st.+michael+legs&source=bl&ots=fffkCZKbKN&sig=O_mDCOLa3Q5dTRaGumSRwsu65Dc&hl=en&ei=pPjGTsnrGMbb0QHA-pj8Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=bronzino%20st.%20michael%20legs&f=false


horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

44. I can see that. Bronzino is properly in the Mannerist era but you can see he resisted

some of the craziness of that era and embraced Michelangelo's secularism and classicism. But, dang, they loved the whiteness in that Mannerist style, didn't they? Things got so bleached out...but I do like Bronzino...he didn't go that far...

[horseshoecrab]

47. Yes!

Bronzino is definitely straddling. Reaching back into high renaissance and much more reality based color. His portraiture is beautiful.

[CTyankee]

31. Well, we have #3 and #5 identified, Hey folks, any more guesses?

Major hint with #6: a little problem with a nun...

[blaze]

32. Well, your hint does not help me a tad

because I know squat about art... but love these threads!!

I have to say that #2 absolutely captivated me! Don't know why exactly. I think I loved looking at all the details.\

Keep on educating me!

:hi:

[CTyankee]

36. #2 is very interesting. Notice how tiny the angel is!

The palm frond is very telling. It is not a good thing when an angel comes into your bedroom with a black palm frond...at least not in Renaissance paintings...

This painting actually frightens me...

[blaze]

41. The angel is tiny?

Are angels normally really, really big? Just looked "normal" size to me.

And I didn't even notice the black palm frond. I saw the dog (?) at the foot of the bed... and a crown at the foot of the bed. And is there a note or piece of paper there as well?

[CTyankee]

43. The angel looks really small compared to the woman in the bed, I think.

And that is a bit strange, I think.

A palm frond offered by an angel was not a good sign...

The crown is significant as to the identity of the sleeping woman...who she was and what her destiny would be...

I don't really know what the piece of paper was about...probably not good given her outcome...

[yardwork]

49. I think it must be a martyred saint, but I'm not sure which one. St. Agatha?

[CTyankee]

51. not agatha but you are on the right path...

[yardwork]

52. St. Barbara in her tower? It looks like three windows.

[CTyankee]

53. No, but I can see what you are saying...

It is interesting because this painting is often used to illustrate what bedrooms used to look like in the Renaissance. It is so well documented here! Since furniture and drapes often didn't survive the years, we have to depend on art works like this to find out the social history of these people. Fascinating, isn't it. You can't get over the detail...

[yardwork]

56. St.Ursula by Carpaccio!

I found it by googling martyred saints and renaissance paintings, so totally cheated.

[CTyankee]

57. no, you didn't cheat! You followed hints that I gave and you gathered from the thread...

all perfectly good! I'm glad you did. I love research because you never know what you'll find on the way!

Good for you!

but it is creepy

[yardwork]

58. Yes, it is a horrific story. Like so many stories of martyred saints.

[horseshoecrab]

33. #4

Hi CTyankee! Good to see you. :hi:

#4 is by Agnolo Bronzino. It depicts St. Michael the Archangel dispensing with Satan.


horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

37. Hey, do you know Bronzino?

[horseshoecrab]

45. Just since this evening!

Aware of the name Bronzino by having had the name memorized as a Mannerist.

Lucked out and found it by a search on St. Michael, satan, mannerist, ceiling. (It looked like this was definitely a ceiling sort of work.)

I need to appreciate mannerists more often! Very fine work.

Thanks CTyankee, as always! :-)


horseshoecrab

[CTyankee]

48. I don't much like the Mannerists! Bronzino seems like an anomaly.

This particular work is nice, however. And it is very fine work, indeed. But I don't like a lot of Fiorentino or Pontormo. For one thing, I don't like that the Mannerists "lost" linear perspective. That bothers me. All I can surmise is that the Reformation unhinged them and this reflects a sense of disorder in society at this time...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

34. Is #1 Fouquet? (n/t)

[CTyankee]

39. wow, you know about Fouquet? He's something isn't he?

But no, not him...

[CTyankee]

42. Hey, #s 1, 2 and 6 left to guess!

What is the message of #2...that might give you a hint...

[IcyPeas]

46. number 2 reminds me...

of jan van eyck, but I can't find any proof.

also number one reminds of a tarot card - like the opening sequence of "Carnivale", the short lived HBO series. (not that it is a tarot card.... just sayin')

[CTyankee]

50. #2 is not van eyck. Wrong country...

since I am not familiar with tarot cards I cannot comment on what you said about #1. However, with regard to #1 it is one of those situations with artists where they can let loose and make some beautiful, joyful scenes, as this one is. It is full of musical angels playing instruments and as such is a lovely, Renaissance moment in art...

[woo me with science]

54. Another marvelous quiz....Thank you so much.

I can't answer any, but I had never seen and absolutely love #2....So thank you for bringing it here.
:)

[CTyankee]

55. It is fascinating. I'll p.m. you with the artist and the work so you can look it up.

It's one of those paintings that just holds you...

[woo me with science]

60. Got it and replied.

Thank you so much. :)

[yardwork]

61. #1 has such a unique style. I feel like I should recognize it....

[Dover]

62. Well this is really bugging me. That last one, is it Raphael?

Kind of like bumping into an old acquaintance on the street or a place out of context
and trying to recall their name. Argh!

[CTyankee]

66. No Raphael here, altho he did angels! Also, this artist preceded

Raphael by some 80 years...

[Liberty Belle]

63. Are #1 and #2 Michaelangelo and Renoir?

[CTyankee]

67. Neither one unfortuntately...

[blue neen]

64. I'm probably totally and completely wrong here, but...

is it possible that #6 is Lippi?

[CTyankee]

68. Which Lippi?

[blue neen]

70. Filippo

lippo lippi!

[CTyankee]

72. I'd love to know how you got to Lippi...

is his stuff a personal favorite of yours?

[blue neen]

74. It was the faces of the angels. There's something very distinctive about them.

I knew that I had seen similar faces before. We have a book about famous artists. It's very descriptive about the artists lives, who they studied with, etc., accompanied by one work of art. I had read that book cover to cover.

In this instance, the one work was "Madonna and Child", so #6 really looked like Lippi to me. You were kind enough to give the hint about the nun, so that pretty much nailed it down.

The only picture that was instantly recognizable for me was #3, the Botticelli. There's something about his work that sets it apart from everyone else's. Like one of the posters said, he does floating and levitation so well.

It would be a wonderful thing if everyone in this country could go to the National Gallery of Art. When my husband and I walked in there it was a feeling of, "So this is what heaven looks like." A favorite section there was the Rembrandt's, followed by the Impressionists. Oh my.

So, I'm not an art expert at all, but certain works of art really stay in my soul.

How about you? Are you well educated on art? What really appeals to you?

Thank you again. It was great fun! :)

[CTyankee]

75. I'm doing art history in retirement. I travel when I have enough money .

I've done intensives in Florence, Paris and last month Holland. The Rembrandts, Hals, Bruegels, van eycks and Van Goghs finally reduced me to tears. But I think they were tears of joy, actually...

I've been doing this Challenge for about a year and a half here at DU. It's fun and I'm glad you have joined in! I'm off for Thanksgiving next week but I may do one the following week (on Thursday)....keep an eye out for it...

[blue neen]

65. I call "Uncle" on number 2.

Giotto? No, that can't be right.

This quiz was great...thank you so much for engaging my brain this evening...very enjoyable. :)

[CTyankee]

69. See above...

[blue neen]

71. Ah, okay. Carpaccio.

:)

[CTyankee]

73. Here are the answers to the Challenge and another treat for you!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2342799

Thanks to everyone who joined the Challenge! See you in a couple of weeks!