Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Infinite Art Tournament Second-Round Elimination: Clouet v. Claesz!


John Singleton Copley and Claude Lorraine leave our Tournament today with honorable records of 1-2, with Claude's totals (19 cumulative votes for, 20 against) looking a little stronger than Copley's (13-22).

Today's contestants, François Clouet and Pieter Claesz, are the pair that gave Claude Lorraine his double eliminations. Claesz beat him 10 votes to 5, though, whereas Clouet eked out a one-vote margin. Let's see what happens when the two go head to head!




François Clouet
c.1522 - 1572
French
  • Scraped by living artist Francesco Clemente by a two-vote margin in Round 1. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
  • Had his ears boxed by Joseph Cornell in Round 2.
  • Snuck by Claude Lorraine in the Left Bracket Second Round by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!






Pieter Claesz
1590 - 1661
Dutch






Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.

17 comments:

pfly said...

Claesz for me, it's time.

Christine M. said...

Pieter Claesz

Ben said...

Although Claesz does a really good job painting that (same) glass, and I think the bones look cool, I'm going to vote for Clouet this time, because I really like the jewels in the first portrait.

Elizabeth said...

My feelings about these two artists are about the same, so I am going to apply the "which paintings would I rather have hanging in my house?" rule and vote for Pieter Claesz. And of course, there is the skull.

Morgan said...

Claesz is just amazing! The lighting is sublime and he gives a life to still lifes that some paintings of people don't even have. Which is not to say that Clouet is one of these.

A vote for Claesz!

Chance said...

This is a real toughie. I'm a fan of both that smooth ultra-realistic and bejweled stuff that Clouet does, but I can't resist a good skull on top; of books, or a half-peeled lemon with oyster shell. I think I have to go with Claesz by just a smidgen. I'd love to have Clouet's A Lady In Her Bath on my wall, but I'd also enjoy any one of Claesz's'z's stuff. So Claesz. Barely.

Chuckdaddy said...

I found this to be so close that I had to look at a lot of issue and it sent me down some interesting, although not helpful, tangents with a few of the pictures. I had already found the Lady in the Bath picture a little strange, but doing a google image search really makes it stand out: portrait-portrait-portrait-naked Greek scene-portrait-portrait-portrait-clutterred scene with a perky breasted woman and in the background breastfeeding, a mischievous child, and woman caring a vase? All with odd looks on their faces? What's going on?

The traditional take was that she was the mistress of Henry II, but then they found out that she had died too early. So some think it's just a different mistress but the theory I like is that one art historian thinks it's a satiric take on Mary of Scots painted for a Huguenot patron- which makes sense to me because this does not seem like a flattering picture of a lady's life to me. Another art historical mystery like the cat (that is not a bear) in Bingham's and Van Eyck's pregnant woman (so not a fashion)?

Oh wait, and I still have to vote. Err... umm... I guess the research will tip this tie to Clouet for me.

Candida said...

Clouet! My logic is as follows: while I was scrolling down this post, I kept thinking, "Yes, yes! Give me another!" Then I hit Claesz, and I stopped thinking that. (I'm not saying he's bad, and I believe I'm in the books as voting for him before, but this isn't really my thing, generally speaking.)

Anonymous said...

clouet
sue

Nichim said...

Claesz for me. Clouet's got that lady's boobs on upside down.

mrs.5000 said...

I'm going with Clouet in this one.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Claesz - I'll always vote for that skull!
Rinda

Michael5000 said...

Claesz gots mad skullz.

lamanyana said...

Clouet

Wildrover said...

Claez for me - I like his craftsmanship.

Michael5000 said...

A real slugfest here, but Claesz comes out on top, 8-6. Will he survive to the semis? Chardin will have something to say about that.

Thanks for voting!

Michael5000 said...

Correction! Counting Wildrover's vote, which was stuck in comment confirmation, Claesz wins 9-6!