Tuesday, 19 December 2017

Christmas Details 2017 - Pots and Pans, bowls and jugs, cups and saucers, vessels and vases

Last year, in haste, I cobbled together some details of paintings on Christmas day morning for a "details" competition in memory of the late Tom Lubbock. Two people found all the answers. I made a half definite promise to make a better competition for 2017. This week someone asked on this blog if I would be putting one together this year. This gave me an impetus and I have spent a day or so putting one together.

Once again, I am setting this puzzle in memory of Tom Lubbock who gave us all so much happiness with his weekly Details Competitions over two decades in the Independent on Sunday and the much anticipated enlarged Christmas Details Competition. For me, personally, it enhanced the Christmas holiday in an unique way. Other members of my family may have a different perspective.

So if there are lovers of art puzzles still out there, or old Details contestants, here is an edition for 2017. If it helps you to celebrate this break at the darkest time of the year, all to the good.

There are more details than usual. I am no website professional, nor master of image manipulation, so apologise in advance if there is some fraying  at the edges.

Nearly all the artists are well known - I think I'd regard only one or two as obscure. However, I am not sure how difficult this puzzle will turn out to be. I apologize if it proves to be too tough. I am conscious of copyright, so virtually all the pictures were created over 100 years ago.

If, by the deadline, anyone wants to send in her/his set of answers, however incomplete, I shall be happy to look at them and post up a list of those who achieved.

I think Tom Lubbock's traditional deadline was sometime in the New Year, usually a Friday, so I'll say midnight on Friday, 5th January.

Send entries to detailspuzzle@yahoo.com

After the deadline, I shall look at any entries as promptly as I can, but I am not fixing a firm date for publishing the winner(s).

I shall publish the answers and the name of each of the three entrants who has the highest number of correct answers, provided she/he confirms approval when sending in the answers. There are no prizes, just prestige!

It occurred to me that a donation to a relevant charity might be worth considering because Tom Lubbock tragically died from a brain tumour. The hospice which cared for Tom Lubbock was the Royal Trinity Hospice

https://www.royaltrinityhospice.london/

Another possible recipient would be The Brain Tumour Charity,

https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org/understanding-brain-tumours/types-of-brain-tumour-adult/glioblastoma/

Please note I have no connection with either of these organisations.

Finally, looking at the preview of this blog, I feel a sense of the old excitement which arose when I opened the Magazine Section of the old Independent on Sunday before each Christmas and saw the set of images arrayed with a different theme every year. It was truly magical.

For those who do not know about the old Competition, the objective is to find the name of the artist and title of the picture for each of the details. Titles vary, so any known version is acceptable.

Please accept that this is not a formal competition and I can only do my best when looking at entries. Tom Lubbock always insisted on refusing to enter into correspondence during the competition, so I shall do the same. I hope you enjoy this and don't take it too seriously.


































Saturday, 7 January 2017

Christmas Puzzle 2016 - Recollections of our Absent Friend, Tom Lubbock - Answers

Below are the answers to this year's Christmas Details puzzle. First, I'd like to apologize for putting up a very hasty set of details. My explanation is that it was scrambled together on Christmas morning. The selection was too narrow and unlike Tom Lubbock's selections, there was no theme. Finally, the some of the details were too small, I think.

Having said all that, I received two entries, each correctly identifying each painting. According to tradition, alternative titles were accepted provided the correct painting had been identified. It's remarkable and inspiring that there are still people out there willing to struggle with details just for the satisfaction of finding them. The congratulations and plaudits in 2017 must therefore go to,

David Rutledge
Francesca Cassano

To my knowledge, David Rutledge won the Details competition more than a few times.

Possibly next Christmas I shall prepare better and give a wider selection of details, even decide on a theme.

Please note that I shall be removing the yahoo email address which I posted up with the competition, as they are susceptible to being picked up and create spam for me and anyone on my address list. Any further correspondence can be taken forward by posting a comment on this Blog to which I shall respond.

Best wishes to all for 2017, though I do not find the political climate to be encouraging to put it mildly.





1.



1. St Luke painting the Virgin - Derick Baegert  




2.  Glatz Madonna - Master of the Glatz Madonna


3. St Nicholas and the Three Gold Balls - Gentile da Fabriano



4. Camera degli Sposi - Andrea Mantegna 


5. St Jerome - Workshop of Jan van Eyck (Dated the year after van Eyck's death)



 6. The Birth of St John the Baptist - Domenico Ghirlandaio



7. The Visitation with St Nicholas and Anthony Abbot - Piero di Cosimo



8. The Nativity - Piero della Francesca


9. The Archangel Gabriel - Masolino da Panicale