Details Competition 917

I thought that Tom Lubbock's choice of Vilhem Hammershoi in Details 917 was quite difficult to identify. This was partly because the detail might well have been from another period. Also, not that much of Hammershoi's work can be found outside printed texts. "Interior of Courtyard, Strandgade 30" has had little exposure.

However, as is so often the case, the picture had recently appeared in an exhibition in London. So the metropolitan audience of the Independent have a much greater chance of finding the answer.

It will be interesting to see how many winners are from London this Sunday.

(The paper is clearly failing now (given its declining sales) and the increasing attention to a smaller and smaller segment of the potential audience will only accelerate the decline. )

I also thought it was a pity that Tom Lubbock did not think to mention the significance of the title of the painting by Poussin in 916 - The Ashes of Phocion collected by his Widow. Mr Lubbock was more interested in the type of landscape. Perhaps the landscape surrounding other significant human events was worthy of note, too.