Christmas Spectacular!

Another long term devotee of the Christmas Details Competition has offered another set of "spectacular" details to divert disappointed competitors. This will provide another 24 puzzles, which makes 40 altogether. Many thanks to Jenny, who provided images of all the early Christmas competitions which appear further back in this blog.

Jenny will also provide the answers which will also be put up on 7th January next year.

I shall publish the names of the "winners", that is those who found all the correct answers, or those who found the highest number of correct answers. Send these to vonthoma@yahoo.com by noon on 6th January, 2016. There are no prizes, just acclamation by the readers of this blog.

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Patrick's Christmas Details 2015 --- 22 Hands, 112 Fingers - Dad's Competition

A correspondent has sent a Christmas style competition to me which he made for his father who was, like the rest of us, very disappointed to miss the Independent's annual festive puzzle. He is content for it to be put here so that anyone wanting to hone their skills can do so. Thank you very much, Patrick, and I am sure that we will all wish you both a relaxing holiday.

I have left the title as it was, but I have not checked the number of fingers. Knowing Details enthusiasts, I'd be very surprised if it is not correct.

Patrick has the answers which he will no doubt send to me so that I can publish them after Christmas. I always thought that the wait was too long, being at the end of January normally, so I propose to put up the answers on Sunday 10th January.

But there is no prize. For one thing, I believe that I would have to get a licence to run a competition!

However I shall publish the names of the "winners", that is those who found all the correct answers, or those who found the highest number of correct answers. Send these to vonthoma@yahoo.com by noon on 6th January, 2016. There are no prizes, just acclamation by the readers of this blog.

Christmas Details Competition - No show!

Christmas Details Competition

There appears to be no Christmas Competition this year, certainly not in the review Section.

The Independent no longer surprises me. But it is disappointing.

I post up one of Bellini's Madonna series - "The Greek Madonna", which I think is one of the most perfect that he created.

I still miss Tom Lubbock's articles and postings. He was a great loss.

Details 1272 - It's got me stumped. And 1273.

Details 1272 was a detail that I could not identify. If some readers of this blog managed to identify it, you deserve to be congratulated and to win!

The result published today states that the picture is by Samuel Prout and is titled "Dover". No-one managed to send in a correct answer. This is another example of Jenny Gilbert using a detail that followers of the competition could not find. I have mentioned before that in all the years of Tom Lubbock's stewardship, there was, I believe, only one occasion when the detail was unidentified.

Once again, the painting is in the United States, where many of Jenny Gilbert's selections are to be found. It is stated to be in The Morgan Library, New York.

I can find no full size version on the internet. There is no record of it in the search facility of the Morgan Library that I can find. Here is the one published in the Independent on Sunday:

Finally, I could not find 1273, either. This was a drawing, and drawings are notoriously difficult to find. We shall see next week.

Detail 1273

08.11.15 There was some improvement on last week's "No winner". This week there was a single winner who guessed the artist correctly. However, although Ms Gilbert states that the aquatint was the inspiration for a set of drawings and poems (in the form of an early comic) titled "The Tour of Dr Syntax in search of the Picturesque, A Poem", she does not give the title of the aquatint from which the detail was taken. Nor does she state where it is to be found.

09.11.15

The artist was Thomas Rowlandson.

14.11.15

Details 1269

Though I recognised the style of the detail for 1269, I spent a long time identifying it.

However, eventually I found the original, which is in the Swindon Art Gallery and Museum:

Details 1267 and 1268

The Problem of Identification

The detail for Competition 1267 was in one sense, easy to identify. It was very much a painting by Turner. However, the difficulty lay in finding the painting and its title. It took me a great deal of searching before I located it. Once again, as often with Jenny Gilbert's selections, it was from a Museum in the United States (The Morgan).

Original detail

Wreck on the Goodwin Sands

Details 1268

Details 1268 was another detail whose identification eluded me for a long time. As the "answer" has not yet been published, I remain in a little doubt. The problem that I encountered here was partly one of attribution. I felt confident that it was by Frans Hals or a follower of Frans Hals, but pinning down the detail to a specific painting was quite tough. The one I eventually decided was unfortunately only to be found in black and white. There were others in colour, but seemed to me to be from slightly different images. The variations in titles are also unhelpful. Most similar pictures are not by Hals himself. 

Original detail

There is a similar detail in a painting in the Louvre. Child with a Soap Bubble.

Tete d'enfant - Abbeville - musée Boucher de Perthes

Head of a Boy facing left with a Flute

   

We shall see.

Jenny Gilbert hedges her bet somewhat and does not state if the picture is by Hals, or a follower, just that versions are contested. However, the detail comes from the Abbeville - musée Boucher de Perthes painting.

Details 1262

Another detail that only one person could find. My recollection is that this happened only once in Tom Lubbock's time, when no-one got the answer.

It would be appropriate and an improvement if Jenny Gilbert gave the location of these minor and obscure paintings.

For the readers of this blog, the painting can be found in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

Title	Portrait of a Dutch Naval Commander (Willem van der Zaen?)
Alternative Title	Portrait of a Dutch Rear-Admiral Artist Helst, Bartholomeus van der (Dutch painter, 1613-1670) Date 1662 (dated)

Details 1260 Another Gallery in the USA

Jenny Gilbert seems to use a significant proportion of galleries in the USA for her details picks. In 1260, I might have thought the painting was from a head dress or decoration, North American Indian style.

But it is actually a flying bird, a parakeet, painted by Edward Lear. It's in the Morgan Library in New York. I wonder if Jenny Gilbert will mention that?

Details 1259 Another Mystery

I certainly could not find the answer to Competition 1259. It seems that all except two others were in the same pickle.

I did try to search for it through Memento Mori subjects, which it is. However, its title gives no clue as it is simply  "A Vase of Flowers" by Nicolaes Lachtropius, a painter who I confess has escaped me. Jenny Gilbert compliments the two readers who identified it, but fails to tell the rest of us where the painting can be found - The Fitzwilliam Museum. I wonder if she knew.

Details 1248

A somewhat odd clue from Ms Gilbert this week. Reference to a stamp. As far as I can see there is no stamp in the picture.

Christmas Details 2014 - Answers

The answers to the Christmas Competition were published last weekend. The results are to be found below. There is little to be said except that Tom Lubbock never laid "crafty tripwires". Others may wish to comment.