A toughie for the Friday Afternoon Challenge Question, kids!

[CTyankee]

In a bizarre and disturbing work, this 16th century artist painted a rouged, blond Christ child with darkened, goth-like eyes. The work has been described as “hellish,” “deformed” and “lunatic.”

Incredibly, in the same work he painted another image that is considered so charming to us today that a detail of it is often cropped and reproduced in holiday cards. Who was he and what is the title of this strange painting? (Yes, you can find it on Google...good luck digging!)

[CTyankee]

1. Hey, art majors! Ya gotta try on this one...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I'll trot off to Google...

And see what shows up...

:hi:

[CTyankee]

4. Thanks, Peggy...you're a doll (as we USED to say back in the day!)

nt

[blogslut]

3. Wrong century but this one's pretty creepy

Domenico Veneziano - Madonna and Child 1445

[CTyankee]

5. OMG. That face on the Christ child...

No, this question has to do with a much "darker" painting...and it's later than the one you posted...

[Hepburn]

9. OMG...Fat Tony Scalia as Christ!

:scared:

[CTyankee]

12. Those Christ child renderings were STRANGE, IMO. Even Lippi's Child

renderings were odd looking, while the Madonnas, of course, were radiant...go figure...

[tekisui]

6. My first thought went to

The Garden of Earthly Delights. But, I am not familiar with any part of it being used in holiday cards.

I also don't think I would ever come close to one of your art riddles.

[CTyankee]

10. Your suggestion came a little earlier than this one...

[Duer 157099]

7. Is the artist Spanish? n/t

[CTyankee]

8. No.

[YOY]

11. Italian? Florentine? Venetian? Genoan?

n/t

[CTyankee]

13. Well, guess...

[YOY]

17. Tibaldi?

He is a little creepy...

[CTyankee]

18. Right church, wrong pew...good for you!

[YOY]

28. and this pew? Tibaldi or Nosadella?

His student Nosadella?



Or did I misinterpret your clue?

[CTyankee]

33. I'm sorry, it's not Tibaldi. But I must confess I don't know this artist.

When did he paint?

[YOY]

34. Pellegrino Tibaldi or Nosadella?

Mid 16th Century I think for the former...I assume slightly later for the latter.

[CTyankee]

36. No, neither. The 16th century, yes.

nt

[sandnsea]

38. Perino del Vaga, The Nativity ??

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/perino_del_vaga.html

[CTyankee]

44. No, but on right track...

[Duer 157099]

14. Is the artist's name recognizable to most people? n/t

[CTyankee]

19. No. For art majors and anyone who has seen it, yes...

[elleng]

15. Cela?

http://research.hrc.utexas.edu/graphics/Box%2014/A_GEN_VARI_328(524).jpg

Regina Angelorum

Why doesn't the image come up???

[CTyankee]

20. No, that's too pretty. This painting is definitely by a disturbed individual in a disturbed time...

nt

[Scurrilous]

16. Raphael - Sistine Madonna?

??

[CTyankee]

21. Not Raphael, but you have a right track with that painting...

[Ian David]

22. Larry Van Pelt?

[CTyankee]

24. Much earlier than van pelt...

[Ian David]

25. Yeah, I know... but he's still super-creepy. n/t

[CTyankee]

31. Some art critics today have said that we live in a time that is comparable to this artist's era.

If so, that's bad news...

[tekisui]

23. Arcimboldo?

His work is certainly disturbed.

[CTyankee]

27. No, I know the veggie thing is weird, but the one I have in mind is

a different kind of weird. Dark, very dark...a screw was loose with this artist...

[laughingliberal]

26. Sebastiano Mainardi, Madonna and Child with St. Nicholas of Bari and St. Justina

[CTyankee]

29. No, think darker...and a little creepier...think spiny fingers...

[blogslut]

30. I found it!

:evilgrin:

[CTyankee]

32. Whoa, that IS strange...but not the strange one I was seeking....

[MilesColtrane]

35. on edit; withdrawing this guess

[CTyankee]

37. Right timeframe. And Grunewald is wonderful. But really too beautiful

compared to this work...

[laughingliberal]

39. Filippo Lippi "Madonna and Child" ?

[CTyankee]

41. Oh, no. This Madonna and Child is more of a nightmare...

[Duer 157099]

40. I'm sure this isn't it, but doesn't this Christ look like Harpo Marx?

[CTyankee]

42. Ya know, it kinda does...

[Duer 157099]

60. Hah! Did you know this was also by Rosso Fiorentino? n/t

[CTyankee]

72. Yes, I did...

[Duer 157099]

43. OK this is a toughie. Let me ask the obvious: is the artist Italian? n/t

[CTyankee]

45. yes.

[joeybee12]

46. Caravaggio?

I can see him doing something like that, but I think I'm in the wrong century.

[tekisui]

47. I thought him for a while. But didn't find what I was looking for.

Definitely creepy stuff.

[joeybee12]

55. A lot of his stuff was considered offensive back then...

and also homoerotic.

[whyverne]

48. Hee hee, I was just looking at some of his paintings before I

realized I was a century off.

[CTyankee]

50. No, not Caravaggio...

[joeybee12]

53. Yeah, i could have done a google search to see the century...

...but, it's a Friday afternoon challenge and we're allowed to be lazy for this!

[CTyankee]

61. No rest for the weary!

nt

[CTyankee]

62. Sorry, no rest for the weary...lol...

[blogslut]

49. Ack!

[tekisui]

51. You got it!

At least it fits all the hints. Look at the cute cherubs. And WTF with Mary's hands?

[alfredo]

69. She's a Vulcan

[CTyankee]

52. We have a WINNAH! Congrats! You did it, Blogslut!

Tell me how you pieced this together...

"A neurotic, even deformed stylization that at times verges on the grotesque is the most immediate characteristic of Rosso Fiorentino's paintings, and can be glimpsed in this painting (the Ognissanti Altarpiece), executed for the Hospital of S. Maria Nuova in Florence. Most notably, the restlessness of the whole work contradicts a High Renaissance ideal: that of serene majesty. This accentuates the expressive dynamism of his compositions, whose colors and tones seem burnt or lividly overstated."

This painting hangs in the Uffizi. Its charming "conversing" putti are featured on holiday cards.

The artist, Rosso Fiorintino, was crazy. He lived with a baboon...

[Call Me Wesley]

54. Darn. I just opened the thread ...

I wouldn't have found out, but I guess that's the cute holiday card motive here:



Congrats, blogslut!

[CTyankee]

57. Nope. Look at the bottom of the painting...it is the putti conversing with each other. cute.

[Call Me Wesley]

58. Awwww!!!! On edit:

:rofl: I just had a putto there. ;)

I first thought of this one (always liked it,) by Hieronymus Bosch:

[CTyankee]

64. Isn't that ODD? In that painting? How strange is that...?

[Call Me Wesley]

67. LOL! Cropping, it's not new stuff.

It's a Renaissance technique. :rofl: See my edit above for the Hieronymus Bosch Christ Child. :hi:

[CTyankee]

71. A little crazy, isn't it?

[blogslut]

56. I finally got it by doing a Google search for

deformed "christ child"

Rosso Fiorentino (1494–1540)

Seriously. I looked at a hell of a lot of baby Jesus paintings and while there are some extremely lovely ones, there's a whole lot of them where the infant is BUTT.UGLY.

What's the deal with that? Babies won't it still so painters paint them badly out of spite?

[CTyankee]

59. How many of my Challenges have you won?

You're great...there was another DUer upthread that I thought was going to get it, but you pulled it out...it does take a while on google but eventually, you get to it. Probably because this painting is in the Uffizi...and that would be a pretty limiting search...

[blogslut]

63. This is just my second win

And I have seen enough adorations to hold me for a lifetime. :hi:

[CTyankee]

65. What was your other one?

[blogslut]

66. The one with Salome

I guessed that one a lot quicker. This one was hard work!

[CTyankee]

68. Well, you weren't working with an image and it isn't a very famous painting.

Were you an art major?

[blogslut]

70. No

Just a fan. :)

[CTyankee]

73. The Mannerists were bizarre, weren't they?

Recently, in the NYT an art critic compared our era in art to that of the Mannerists. That was depressing...

[blogslut]

74. Well, I guess they were breaking free from iconism

...but were still too obsessed with the stilted, symbolism of particular poses.

[CTyankee]

76. But the Mannerists were breaking free from the rational Renaissance artists.

Maybe it was breaking free of linear perspective and a renewal of classicism. but I am hard pressed to be admiring of their floating bodies in space and all that muscularity that in the hands of Fiorintino was jumbled...

[blogslut]

79. Like I said, I'm no scholar

I just look at the pichers. :)

[CTyankee]

81. You certainly have a discerning eye!

I'm glad you do.

I'm going back to Florence in September to do more of an indepth study of Renaissance art...it is massive...so much to digest...I've been researching for over a year now...what a fabulous place.

Have you been to Florence to see this treasure trove?

[blogslut]

82. Sadly, no

I'm not well traveled. :(

[CTyankee]

83. Well, you MUST go to Florence. Come with us, four broads abroad,

we had fun in Lisbon last year and we'll have a ball in Florence (altho we will be more dignified...ahem). Leaving Sept. 18, 2010...

[blogslut]

85. That sounds lovely

I hope you have a marvelous time and post lots of photos for us. :hi:

[CTyankee]

88. Thanks. we certainly are...got lots to see...Florence is fabulous for art.

I'd love for you to see it since you are obviously an art lover...

Too bad so many Americans go to Florence and think they've "done" it by seeing the David at the Accadamia and the 2 Botticelli paintings in the Uffizi....there is so much more...the Duomo, the San Marco convent, the Bracacci Chapel, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, etc...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

75. It amuses the hell out of me that these two putti ended up in so many American homes...

Guardian death angels. Wiki says they look "relaxed and curious"; to me they look bored and impatient. And creepy.

And this putto gets his own stamp, no less:

http://www.postagestampart.com/Love-Cherub-from-Sistine-Madonna-by-Raphael-p132.html

[CTyankee]

dupe. deleted.

[CTyankee]

77. I know, we love our putti. But at least Raphael was a GREAT artist.

This guy Fiorintino was a weirdo, but his putti are charming, aren't they?

You have to wonder about the mind set of the Middle Ages, don't you?...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

96. Well, I wouldn't go so far as "charming," but I will say...

less disturbing than Raphael's. Although the one on the right looks a little iffy. ;-)

Good thread!

[elehhhhna]

78. They look like my daughters when they were 4 & 2. Seriously.

[CTyankee]

80. It's funny how these images are construed differently according to different times, isn't it?

This is pretty nice, no?

[elehhhhna]

97. Quite. This is the coolest lounge thread, ever, btw. Thanks!

can we do some Francis Bacon next? I loooooove the Popes.

[malaise]

87. Very interesting

NO way I was solving this one :hi:

[CTyankee]

89. I know, without a pic it is VERY difficult...thanks for your patience...

[malaise]

94. I look forward to your Friday

Art History lesson :D

[CTyankee]

95. Great. Next week will be something NEW! Be sure to check in around 5 pm next Friday!

Should be fun...

[deaniac21]

92. Was the baboon named bubbles?

[CTyankee]

93. No, but it's funny that he was able to get a baboon in Florence, Italy in the 15th century.

How the hell does anyone do that?

This was one strange dude...

[Bluenorthwest]

84. This was an entertaining thread

And informative. Hideous infants. Harpo Marx. This thread had it all.

[blogslut]

86. Awesome band name

The Hideous Infants

I dig it. :0)

[CTyankee]

91. there ya go...

[CTyankee]

90. Nothing is new under the sun is it? nt