As expected, there was a very large number of correct answers to the Christmas Details competition. Well, it is Christmas.

The Competition puzzle for 924 was as seen on the left: I suggest that it was one of the most tedious details to find. However, I did eventually discover that it was painted by Thomas Couture.

The week after that was an exceptionally easy detail - a knee from the Stonebreakers by Courbet. The winners will be published this week, but I should imagine that there would have been a bagful of correct entries.

This week's, 926, was in a different catergory, though. It was a real poser:

I thought it might be an engraving by Mantegna, but in the end it turned out to be by an artist I had never heard of: Girolamo da Treviso. It is a bizarre piece of political satire, a 16th century anti Roman Catholic picture showing the Four Evangelists Stoning the Pope.

This answer won't be published until a week tomorrow: 8th February.

This blog may not be continuing for too long as I think the Independent on Sunday will be taken over or "fold" fairly soon. It is losing readership hand over fist and is too London centred.

Christmas Details 2008

This is the easiest competition for a number of years. I wonder how many correct entries there were? We shall see on 18th January.

Details Competition 919, 920 and 921

The Details 919 was one that I could not find. I did find very similar images of the metal pot that the woman is balancing on her head. This was by Louis le Nain. I looked for Louis Le Nain on the web. However, it was nowhere to be found. Today's newspaper tells me that the picture is in the V&A and a search in the V&A site finds the image quite easily.

Tom Lubbock made an interesting claim for the image of the milkmaid, arguing that it should be widely known.

I am not sure, as I think the style of le Nain is a little wooden.

Well, last week's image (920) was a William Blake, and even though he has such a distinctive style, it was not so easy to find. It turned out to be Beatrice on the Car with Matilda and Dante.

This week's - 921 - is a seasonal one.

I think that the Christmas Details competition will be published on 20th December.

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.

This blog is an occasional discussion of paintings which appear in Tom Lubbock's Details Competition in the Independent on Sunday.
The Christmas Competition is the most difficult, with usually about 16 paintings to identify.
Last year's Competition was almost impossible, I was unable to identify two images: one was an incorrect detail which Tom Lubbock had not selected. However, some entrants managed to find the correct answer. I believe that Mr Lubbock discounted this answer for all entrants who got all the other answers correct.
I was unable to find number 5. See below.