So, the latest buzz surrounding Leonardo's Mona Lisa is that the background landscape is Bobbio, Italy and the sitter is Bianca Giovanna Sforza. At least, that is the conclusion of Italian art historian Carla Glori, according to articles in the Guardian, the Telegraph and several dozen other sources.

I must admit to having reached a phase in which the latest Leonardesque Mystery Unraveling leaves me feeling only mildly interested. (Please forgive me; my tenure here began with "that book," and new findings haven't let up since.)

That said, Ms. Glori's theory about the setting seems plausible. Bobbio is a small, ancient town in the Trebbia River valley, and is best known as the site on which the Read More...

Image © 2008 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Dear 2010,

As you approach hitting the rear-view mirror of life, your memory will persist thusly: as a lifeless, barren landscape covered with melt-downs. Now shoo, you crashing bore, and make way for 2011. Rumor and statistics have it that the new year cannot possibly be less cooperative than you have been.

Don't let the door hit you, Sweet Pea.

Signed,

Almost Everybody

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Yes, yes. I know. Boxing Day means some sort of bank holiday in the UK and parts of Canada, and now may or may not involve after-Christmas sales shopping. This has evolved from its previous meaning, which may or may not have involved giving alms to the poor, or the church, or one's servants or tillers of land, or even roving gangs of singing boys attired in straw, women's dresses and blackface (I believe a captured wren goes with, but don't quote me on that). Possibly even all of the above.

The origins of Boxing Day previous to this trickle down, gifts-giving jubilee are literally all over the map, but definitely appear centered on Saint Stephen (a Greek-speaking Gentile martyred in Palestine), whose goodness inspired King Wenceslas (a 10th century Bohemian Duke named Weceslaus, actually) to himself be good and build a rotunda-cum-cathedral dedicated to Saint Vitus (a late-3rd to early-4th century Sicilian) in Prague Castle, which is in present day Czechoslovakia. Circuitous logic then dictates that, somehow, this led to a barefoot Duke Wenceslaus being credited with braving a snowstorm to give alms on Saint Stephen's feast day (December 26), an act which was posthumously recorded as factual, verified by Pope Pius II (Sienese) in the mid-15th century, lyricized by a 19th century English hymn writer, and set to the tune of a 13th century Finnish carol (celebrating not Christmas, but ... wait for it ... Spring). Et voilà: Boxing Day! (Honestly, even the writers on Dr. Who couldn't have made this story up.)

However, when I first heard the term "Boxing Day" I was (a) quite young and (b) eager that it meant a reward for my forced captivity with visiting relatives. Specifically, I had two cousins who were perfect angels if an adult was watching and incarnations of Josef Mengele if one was not. I longed to punch them--preferably repeatedly, and in the throat--and hoped that Boxing Day would give me the green light. Alas, it was not meant to be, but in the spirit of the season ... or at least the bit about "it brings out the child in all of us" ... here's hoping that Boxing Day continues to evolve towards my original supposition. It would be an ideal follow up to The Airing of Grievances during Festivus. And, if the behavior of certain US shoppers at 50% off after-Christmas sales is emulated in other countries, we are already well on the way to Pugilism Day.

Image Credit:

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1977-79
Silkscreen and polymer paint on canvas
40 x 40 in. (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
On stretcher, unframed
© Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York

You'll find devotional images in many churches or art museums and, at this time of year, on seasonal greeting cards. Which type of art are they, though? And what are we supposed to think/do/feel when looking at them? Beth Gersh-Nesic explains all in her definition of devotional images.

It has taken me an entire week to write about David Wojnarowicz's video being yanked from the Hide/Seek exhibition because, frankly, all previous attempts turned into Op-Ed diatribes of the first water. Will the attempted marginalizing of Wojnarowicz--as both a human being and an artist--never end? I'll try not to go "there" and would like, instead, to factually address some of the more ignorant (and hateful) comments it's been my great misfortune to read online.

"He was a talentless wannabe."

Fact: Wrong. David Wojnarowicz's body of work is definitely not everyone's respective cup of tea, but he was talented and was not a wannabe. His art is highly respected and has been widely shown. He was also given a retrospective exhibition at the New Museum (of Contemporary Art; located in New York City) in 1999. "Wannabe" artists are not viable retrospective candidates, particularly if the retrospective is posthumous.

"This video was an attack on Christianity."

Fact: Wrong again. First of all, we are talking about an eleven second scene in a four minute video, which itself was excerpted from the original 13 minute piece. In said eleven seconds, ants randomly walk across a small wall crucifix that has been laid on a flat surface. There are no ants or crucifixes present in the other 229 seconds of A Fire in My Belly, A Work in Progress.

Now, of course, there are legions of people for whom even one second of ants-on-a-crucifix video would be too much. One of them was Read More...

This seldom happens, but I'm asking you to go to another website and read a different blog. Why? Because the author, the wonderfully erudite and comprehensible James Elkins, has written a thought-provoking piece entitled "How Long Does it Take To Look at a Painting?"

If you suppose that there's an easy answer to this question, you really should read the article. My own knee-jerk reaction to the headline was, "Oh, my entire lifetime." I've had practice in a way, as this is also the unspoken answer whenever someone asks me, "How long did it take you to draw that?" (Me: Just my entire lifetime, ma'am.) Being an artist, looking at art--you don't cram for these things as if they were Econ101 finals. Creating and seeing are forever works-in-progress. You bring new layers of insight and experience to the process with each passing year.

Dr. Elkins says this and more--and a million times better than I ever could--in his piece. He deserves a wide audience. Please read his delicious food for thought, and leave him your comments over on Huffington Post.

Image Credit: People look at works by Pablo Picasso during a preview of the 'Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art' exhibition April 19, 2010 in New York City. Photo © Mario Tama/Getty Images.

I have been away ... by necessity, not choice, and certainly not for pleasurable reasons. Upon my return, yon Inbox was running over with 'Art History Job Submission' emails. "At last," I thought. "A bright spot; the proverbial 'silver lining!' Everyone is going to be thrilled to see so many new jobs!" My excitement lasted approximately three minutes, which is how long it took to preview the emails and discover that I had gotten résumés from six of seven continents. Furthermore, could I get these résumé-holders Internships, preferably in the US? In one, especially bold email, I was chastised for not "trying harder," as this was the second time s/he had written.

Now, I am not heartless. I know what the job market looks like for art history majors, even under ideal economic circumstances--and we are currently (still) experiencing the polar opposite of "ideal." This is why I spend time each week poking under rocks, clawing through the underbrush and using a metal detector to find viable job leads. I do this to help readers locate legitimate employment opportunities, and to help employers find qualified applicants. The form? Exists to expedite the process. It is for employers' use, people, not for matchmaking purposes.

So, please, I'm begging you: please stop sending me your Wish Lists--particularly via that form. It's a waste of everyone's precious time. Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for your consideration.

HaltaDefinizione, the firm that brought us super-ultra high resolution scans of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes and Leonardo's restored Last Supper mural, announced in a press release last week that they have completed scans of six treasures from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. We're not talking about run-of-the-mill high resolution, either. No, these scans run into the billions of pixels and utilize a "zoom" feature that allows viewers to see individual strands of hair in stunning clarity.

Given that this technology is both expensive and labor intensive, HaltaDefinizione has opted (for now) to focus on a select group of six of the Uffizi's "Greatest Hits." They are as follows:

• Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (Italian 1435-1488), The Baptism of Christ, 1472-1475
• Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519), The Annunciation, ca. 1472-75
• Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45-1510), Spring, ca. 1482
• Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45-1510) Birth of Venus, ca. 1486
• Agnolo di Cosimo, called Bronzino (Italian, 1503-1572) Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo, ca. 1545
• Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610) Bacchus, 1597

You may view all of these by visiting this page. And please note that these six scans will only be available online until January 29, 2011.

Image Credit:

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610)
Bacchus, 1597
Oil on canvas
95 x 85 cm (37 3/8 x 33 7/16 in.)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Image © Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Firenze

Image courtesy of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Sammlung Moderner Kunst in der Pinakothek der Moderne.

I recently published an exhibition image gallery, and mentioned this particular painting in my weekly newsletter because I loathe both it and its creator that much. If you read his artist bio, perhaps you'll understand why. Bonus points to anyone who can name the American contemporary painter (hint: born in 1962) who employs this same style--and many thanks to Beth Gersh-Nesic for bringing the connection to my attention.

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... to leave an (allegedly) $1 million painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875) in some bushes on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue? My guess is either (a) more drunk than any human being has ever been, and you're lucky you didn't die of alcohol poisoning, or (b) you're lying your fool head off. And, yet, this was art courier Carl Haggerty's claim when Portrait of a Girl (ca. 1860) went missing on during the night of July 28-29, 2010.

Portrait of a Girl was turned over to the NYPD and, subsequently, the FBI, on Sunday, September 12, 2010. It arrived courtesy of a Fifth Avenue doorman who found it in the bushes outside of his building. Now, you might be thinking "All's well that ends well," but this isn't the end of the story by a long shot. In fact, a whole new, incredibly tangled can of worms has been opened involving: insurance fraud, a lawsuit that was filed and withdrawn within two days, a co-owner of the painting with a felony past, an erroneous appraisal value, and the disappearance of ex-con Carl Haggerty.

For Further Reading:

• "'Portrait Of A Girl' LOST By Drunk Man" - Huffington Post


• "U.S. Charges Art Thief Over Missing Corot Painting" - Bloomberg


• "Missing Painting Turns Up, but Case Isn't Closed" - The New York Times