Hi, DU! Ready for your Friday Afternoon Challenge Question?

[CTyankee]

"No, Madame, you may not just walk in and see it! Apply in writing for a Monday or Wednesday guided visit, but not in English!"

Where are we and what are we looking at?

[SCantiGOP]

1. your bedroom?

[CTyankee]

7. Who could sleep with all that going on?

[Warren DeMontague]

2. I'm going to guess The Hermitage. nt

[CTyankee]

5. Great guess but...

:(

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. I can't TELL you how many times I'VE had to say that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Sistene Chapel?

Not sure about the spelling.

[elleng]

24. Here's the Sistine:

(Don't mean to compete w 'other!!!')

[mikeytherat]

6. Annibale Carracci Ceiling of the Farnese gallery

Rome, Farnese Palace

mikey_the_rat

[CTyankee]

9. YES! We have a winnah!

Tell me how you knew it! Have you been there?

[mikeytherat]

10. I'm French-Sicilian, so I'm down with frescoes.

And, yes, I've been - it is absolutely stunning.

mikey_the_rat

[CTyankee]

11. It is stunning, altho I am less enthralled with this era...Carracci did other interesting things,

tho.

My taste veers more toward early Renaissance than this form of Baroque...the best Baroque to me is Caravaggio, a contemporary of the Carracci brothers and also a Rome artist (primarily).

Speaking of Caravaggio, as someone with Sicilian heritage, have you seen "The Burial of St. Lucy" in Siricusa? It is my favorite Caravaggio, but the museo in Siricusa was closed when I was there and the painting was being restored in Florence...ah, well...

[mikeytherat]

12. Caravaggio - now we're talking. I love "Vocazione di S. Matteo" - the light and shadows...mmm tasty

And I am much more of a Baroque person, too.

mikey_the_rat

[CTyankee]

13. Did you see the Matthew series in Rome?

It's thrilling to see these 3 works in situ, right where they were placed after he painted them...of course, they couldn't stand his first "St. Matthew and the Angel" so he had to do another one...unfortunately, the first one was destroyed in Berlin during the Allied bombing in WWII.

[mikeytherat]

14. No, I did not get to see the Matthew series.

:-(

mikey_the_rat

[CTyankee]

15. The photos I had seen prior were misleading. It's in what they call a "chapel" but

is about the size of a big walk in closet to me.

Here was this little church and inside people sitting in pews or praying and there are these masterpieces! Blew my mind! You have to throw a little euro change in the light box thingie but it's amazing. Same with the two St. Paul on the road to Damascus works that Caravaggio did...little church and you can't go in when they're having Mass...

[Parker CA]

18. Bam! Nice work!! I was thinking one of the rooms in the Palazzo Vecchio in Firenze. nt

[CTyankee]

19. Well, the show had moved on to Rome by the time of Carracci.

Kinda sad, but Florence has its glory, none the less...

[CTyankee]

33. This is the Palazzo Vecchio

IMG]

A different era in art...more religious and less pagan...

[alfredo]

8. Vatican museum?.

[RC]

16. Think of the children!

Can you imagine something like this in a church in the United states? Some people think a picture of Madonna's face is obscene. This would send them over the edge.

[CTyankee]

20. This is really about the pagan Gods. As a matter of fact, that is its title...somewhat...

The Baroque artists had moved on. Very much into the gods and godesses of ancient times. This was one of them. It was very much a time of excessive debauchery and that was celebrated. Rome was full of money from the slave trade in the New World. It was the Counter Reformation and times were good...

[rug]

17. I don't know but I bet it's about this.

[CTyankee]

21. Pretty much later...Carracci was a contemporary not of Michelangelo but Caravaggio.

The David is Michelangelo's dedication to a hero of Florence. The Carracci ceiling is a celebration of paganism, if you want to get real about it. Michelangelo was an artist of the High Renaissance and this is a product of the Baroque era which followed (after the Mannerists and the less said about them the better).

[Atticus]

22. That's the print on page 37

of the Family Research Council's best-seller "Examples of Pornography (WARNING!!! EXPLICIT MATERIAL)".

[CTyankee]

23. It shows ya! Nuthin's new! nt

[blogslut]

25. Off topic

I keep missing these challenges due to whatever. Sorry about that.

So, anyway...

I've been thinking about the mindset of ancient sculptors ever since reading about how so much of that fabulously chiseled marble http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/01/06/sculpture_show_of_a_different_color">got painted over in vivid colors - on purpose!

I have to think, at least one or two of those dudes had to have looked at his work, before the paint, and thought: "I like it this way better."

But then, my limited knowledge has me guessing that in ancient times, the sculptors and painters were skilled but lower-class/separate specialty-lackeys with little oversight power. Probably the sculptors quietly despised the painters for defacing their beautiful work.

[CTyankee]

26. I post them every Friday at around 5 pm, so I hope to see you next time.

I'd love to hear more of your insights...

BTW, did you guess this one correctly?

[blogslut]

27. Goodness, no

I knew upon opening the thread that someone had probably made a correct guess so I scrolled down until I found it. :)

[CTyankee]

28. Next week's challenge will not be about art.

I think it will be a "challenge," but DU folks are really sharp so I may be totally wrong!

Anyway, join in...

[blogslut]

29. I'll try

Hopefully I won't get stuck messing with my laptop when the time comes. :hi:

[CTyankee]

30. I remember you won at least one of the earlier challenges...

was it the Fiorintino "goth" madonna and child?

[blogslut]

31. Yes

And I sort of got people going in the right direction on that Salome thingy. Also I think I pointed out a Tinteretto in some other challenge. :)

[CTyankee]

32. So you ARE the champ of the Challenge!

I remember now...the reference to Jane Fonda on Tintoretto...I loved it! You were great on the Salome reference...it's not something lots of people would think of...I know I wouldn't if I hadn't already seen it and read about it...you have a good eye. blogslut...

The great thing about doing this is that DU folks share their experience with the artist/work and it's just great fun to read them.