Posted by Susan Benford
Some of the most famous paintings in the world were created by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), indisputably one of the most famous painters in art history. After receiving his legal degree in 1888, he regretted his career choice and opted for art school instead. He began studying in Paris with William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1891, but subsequently moved to the more progressive studio of Gustave Moreau. In these years, Matisse built a modest art collection, acquiring art paintings by other Paris-based artists like Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, and Rodin. Matisse later commented that his acquisition of Cezanne’s Bathers was profoundly influential.
Henri Matisse. The Dance, 1909-1910. Oil on canvas, 8'6" by 12'10". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
This influence is plainly visible in two of the most famous paintings by Matisse, the pendant, or paired, works known as Dance (La Danse) and Music (La Musique). Both art paintings were commissioned in 1909 by the Russian merchant, Sergei Shchukin, who was a leading collector of late 19th and early 20th century art. By 1914, Shchukin had acquired 37 paintings by Matisse; the bulk of these were bequeathed to the Hermitage and form the core of its expansive collection of Matisse paintings.
In 1910, Matisse submitted La Danse and La Musique for the Salon d’Automne, the Salon or art exhibition organized in 1903 as an alternative to the more conservative Paris Salon. Although Matisse's monumental nudes were gender-neutral, his pair of art paintings nonetheless provoked a far-reaching scandal culminating with Shchukin's rejection of them. He intended for La Danse and La Musique to adorn the stairwell of his Moscow house, the Troubetzkoy Palace (above right), but claimed that the sexuality of these art paintings would offend his daughters and Russian friends. After protestations from Matisse, Shchukin recanted after one "explicit" portion was “touched up”.
The inspiration for La Danse came to Matisse from various sources, including the dance floor of the popular Parisian cabaret, 
Henri Matisse. La Musique, 1910. Oil on canvas, 8'6" by 12'9". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Moulin de la Galette, and two previous art paintings, Joie de Vivre (1905) and an earlier version of Dance (now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York). The nudes of the Hermitage La Danse are amorphous, mythical creatures who skip and dance as if they were vying to unite Man, Earth and Heaven. Matisse’s palette of only green, red, and blue captures, as he wished, "the bluest of blues for the sky" and "the greenest of greens for the earth". This simple but powerful palette captures the joyous vitality of his dancers.
In the pendant painting, though, this palette seems incongruous with the placidity of the musicians - the figures sanguinely sit or play instruments and the reds, blues, and greens appear muted. Although La Musique lacks the vitality of its pendant, La Danse deservedly is one of the most famous paintings in the world.
Read about more famous paintings by Matisse and others in Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history cards of Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings.
Want a sample to see and hold? Request some sample Masterpiece Cards, and we'll oblige. Want to go green? See sample art history flashcards online.
Posted by Susan Benford
The number of famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is around 14, according to recent sources. The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, boasts two of 
these da Vinci art paintings, Madonna with a Flower (commonly known as Benois Madonna) of 1478, and Madonna and Child (or Litta Madonna) from the 1490s.
Not surprisingly, these famous paintings attract teeming s of swarms of sharp-elbowed visitors (and even of art museum guides), despite the sweltering heat blanketing Russia. Studying these Leonardo paintings, though, is all about patience, ignoring those furtively snapping flash photos (and reminding me to discuss Large Crowd Etiquette with my teenage sons). The Benois Madonna, one of the few art paintings from the early career of Leonardo, is a genre scene of the Madonna and Child, a topic Leonardo favored in various sketches and drawings in his earliest years as an artist.
Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna), 1478. Oil on canvas transferred from panel. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Attired in fashionable clothing and a hairstyle current at the time, the Benois Madonna (left) gazes at her baby in pure adoration while he plays with a four-petalled flower, a symbol of the Cross. The simplicity and purity of her reverence is palpable, yielding a seemingly spontaneous interaction between the two. Leonardo used oil paints in this work, a relatively new technique for Italian painters of the 1470s.
Over a dozen years later, Leonardo returned to this favored theme in the Madonna Litta, probably painted in Milan; Leonardo moved there in 1482 to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza (perhaps best remembered in art history as the commissioner of The Last Supper). In contrast to his earlier Madonna, Leonardo presents here an idealized version in which she epitomizes ultimate maternal love and devotion for a child. Here is the humanist dream of Ideal Life, with pure love and idyllically peaceful surroundings. The child, brilliantly modeled in chiaroscuro, is all roundness; his direct gaze lures the viewer into the painting with one of those riveting gazes that tracks with you as you move. These two famous paintings are a startling 
Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta), 1490s. Tempera on canvas, approximately 16" by 13". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
reminder that even the genius of Leonardo evolved and changed over time.
There’s nary a peep in the Hermitage description of Madonna Litta that its attribution has been questioned. Some art history scholars contend it was at least partially painted by an assistant, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1466/67 - 1516); he worked in Leonardo's studio, and some believe he was responsible for some, if not all, of the landscape seen through the symettrical arched windows.
Talk about lucky – I could have missed the Madonna Litta, which will be on loan to London's National Gallery for its forthcoming Leonardo art exhibition running from 11/2011 to 2/2012. Perhaps this Leonardo art exhibition was inspired by the recent, 18 month long restoration of one of the most famous paintings by Leonardo, Virgin of the Rocks. The radical change in its appearance prompted the art critic, Jonathan Jones, to quip that Virgin of the Rocks is now "freed from an amber prison". Because Madonna Litta will be in London, I consider myself doubly lucky to have seen it at the Hermitage - I would have been bereft to have missed her! Read more about other famous paintings by Leonardo in this art exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan.
You can read about other famous paintings by Leonardo-- The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa- in Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history flash cards of renowned art paintings. They span Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings, providing an art history survey of famous paintings.
Want a sample to see and hold? Request samples of Masterpiece Cards, and we'll oblige. Want to go green? See sample art history flashcards online.
Posted by Susan Benford
Although the Picasso Museum in Barcelona lauds its collection of early Picasso paintings and drawings, I think the highlight of this art museum is the group of famous paintings by Picasso known as the Las Meninas Series.
Picasso didn't shrink from measuring himself against famous painters from other art periods, exploring and interpreting art paintings by Courbet, Manet, El Greco, and most significantly, Velazquez. Between August and September of 1957, Picasso delved into an analysis of one of the most famous paintings by Velazquez, Las Meninas (I contend that Velazquez's Venus with a Mirror is equally monumental). From his interpretative analysis of Velazquez's work, Picasso created a body of 58 art paintings. In discussing this endeavor, he explained:
If anyone were to try to copy Las Meninas in complete good faith, and for example got to a certain point - and if I were the copier - I would say to myself, "If I just put this a little more to 
Pablo Picasso. Las Meninas (Group), 1957. Oil on canvas, approx. 6'4" by 8'6". Museu Picasso, Barcelona.
the right or left?". I would try to do it my own way, forgetting about Velazquez.
It's fascinating to observe which elements of Las Meninas Picasso preserved from Velazquez, and which he altered. Among the latter are changing the picture format from vertical to horizontal, and opening the windows (on the right) which Velazquez had painted closed. In Las Meninas (Group) above, Picasso retains the two groups of Velazquez, Agustina de Sarmiento and the Infanta Margaritz, and the second trio of Isabel de Velasco, Maribarbola and Nicolasito in the right foreground. His variation here is nearly stripped of all color, turning this art painting into grisaille.
Picasso reinstates color in subsequent variations as he explores studies of the intact groups
Pablo Picasso. Las Meninas (Group), 1957. Oil on canvas, approx. 6'4" by 8'6". Museu Picasso, Barcelona.
Velazquez presented; in other paintings, Picasso delves into individual portraits and portraits of each of the trios.
It's a marvel to be able to see this entire ensemble of art paintings in one place... and nearly incomprehensible that Picasso completed so many works in only four months.
If you, too, are lucky enough to view these art paintings... let us know how you like them!
You can read about Velazquez's Las Meninas -- and 249 other famous paintings - in Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history flash cards of renowned art paintings. They span Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings, providing an art history survey of famous paintings.
Want a sample to see and hold? Request a sample of Masterpiece Cards, and we'll oblige. Want to go green? See sample art history flashcards online.
Posted by Susan Benford
Seems like lists of most famous painters, best art museums, and the like are as common as heat and humidity these 
days. And not just in the U.S. The Times of London and Charles Saatchi jump dramatically into the fray, polling some 1.4 million readers to compile their list of 200 top artists of the 20th century to the present. Included are painters, installation artists, sculptors, and photographers... and some rather suspect conclusions.
The Times article accompanying this poll suggests that Martin Kippenberger (who?) at 20 is likely a blip; I suggest it's definitively a scandal. 
This German artist bests Giacometti (#25), Mark Rothko (#28), Edward Hopper (#29), and Philip Guston (#34) (just for starters)? Picasso at #1 is no surprise, but Klimt as #3?
I'm in favor of stuffing the ballot box to launch Matisse (#6) into a well-deserved dead heat with Picasso. Here's how their Top Ten looked (do notice that painting trumps all other media):
- Picasso
- Cezanne
- Klimpt
- Monet
- Duchamp
- Matisse
- Pollock
- Warhol
- de Kooning
- Mondrian
If you're curious about the entire ranking, see their complete list of top artists. And wouldn't you like to see a U.S. newspaper or blogger take on a similar list?
Top left: Henri Matisse, The Dance.Bottom right: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
Posted by Susan Benford
Crowds swarmed around the Hermitage's famous paintings by van Gogh - and with good reason. Many of these art paintings seldom leave this art museum, and they are jewels in its collection of European paintings.
Unlike famous paintings in most art museums, the Hermitage's are
Vincent van Gogh. Memory of the Garden at Etten (Women of Arles), 1888. Oil on canvas, approximately 27" x 35". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
seldom behind plexiglass or glass, and proximity to them isn't impeded by alarms, ropes, or stanchions. Or even guards. This seeming breach of security would be disquieting in any museum, but it's particularly so in the Hermitage -- in 1985 Rembrandt's Danae was slashed with a knife and splashed with sulfuric acid by a man later deemed insane; traces of the acid still lightly mar this famous artwork.
Nonetheless, it is remarkable to have such unfettered access to art paintings like Memory of the Garden at Etten (Women in Arles), one of the art paintings van Gogh made after relocating to Arles. Remarkably,he was prolific there in spite of his untreated mental illness. Memory of the Garden is a patchwork of decorative areas of color; the frenzied, hurried brushwork is jarring against the stoicism of the women, but simulataneously appears intentionally applied. The paint is applied in varying densities across the canvas -- on the white and yellow mums it is 3/8" thick - making a rolling, rippling texture. It's an extraordinary painting to view so closely.
Vincent van Gogh. Thatched Cottages, 1890. Oil on canvas, approx. 22" x 27". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
In the spring of 1890, van Gogh relocated to Auvers-sur-Oise, a town north of Paris, and began treatment with the psychiatrist Dr. Paul Gachet (who became a model for van Gogh, like so many others close to the painter). Van Gogh enjoyed his most prolific period during what would become the final months of his life, completing an astonishing 70 art paintings in as many days. From Auvers, he wrote to his sister:
Vincent van Gogh. White House, June, 1890. Oil on canvas. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
There are some roofs of mossy thatch here which are superb and of which I shall certainly make something.
And make something he did, painting Thatched Cottages and White House in his instantly recognizable style of furiously energetic brushstrokes. Still struggling with mental illness and for recognition from the art community, van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the latter part of 1890. Tragically, he didn't get to read a favorable review of his art paintings by the prominent art critic, Albert Aurier, whose early praise initiated recognition of van Gogh as one of the most famous painters in art history.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discover Masterpiece Cards, a set of 250 art history flash cards of leading art paintings in Western art history. Each Card
- reproduces a famous art painting
- provides artist's name and lifespan, and painting title and size
- indicates which city and art museum house the painting, making the Cards great for travel. Or reading. Or teaching.
Check out one of these art history flashcards!
Posted by Susan Benford
Which is the best art museum? That's right up there with 
identifying The Most Famous Painting. Nonetheless, Tyler Green, the fabulous blogger behind Modern Art Notes, is taking a stab at it. He has compiled seedings of art museums... and gives art museum fans the chance to vote.
VOTE! Check out his Favorite Art Museum Tourney, and vote now -- the first round ends at 5 p.m. this Sunday, with more rounds to come! 
Top right: Museum of Fine Arts, BostonMiddle: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkBottom right: Art Institute of Chicago
Posted by Susan Benford
Visiting the Hermitage, with its famous paintings dominating some 3 million works of art, has been a dream for decades. The founding of this art museum is usually dated to 1764, when Catherine the Great began acquiring art collections and deploying art agents throughout Europe to purchase on her behalf. I've seen a famous painting by Michelangelo, Crouching Boy; 
twelve or so art paintings by Titian; Giorgione's Judith; over three dozen art paintings by Rubens; two dozen by van Dyck; two famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci; The Lute Player by Caravaggio; Danae by Rembrandt; two famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, and noteworthy art paintings by famous painters like Matisse and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). It's breathtaking, even with temperatures and humidity in the 90s.
Although van Gogh was phenomenally influential on generations of subsequent artists, he sold only one art painting, Red Vineyard in Arles, during his brief lifetime. Born in Holland to an evangelical preacher, he struggled to secure a career; after being fired from his uncle's art gallery, he opted to enter the Church but displeased its superiors with his overzealous care of the poor. Desperately, he turned to painting. In merely ten years, van Gogh generated an oeuvre that impressed famous painters like Claude Monet, who deemed van Gogh's art paintings the best in the Salon des Independants of 1890, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who reportedly threatened to duel a man critical of van Gogh's art paintings.
In 1889, van Gogh was institutionalized in an asylum in Saint-Remy for care of recurrent mental illness. His somber palette of earlier art paintings like The Potato Eaters had been
Vincent van Gogh. Portrait of Madame Trabuc, September, 1989. Oil on canvas. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
supplanted by a more diverse palette of brighter hues. From St. Remy, he wrote his brother,Theo:
Life passes by, and you cannot undo it, but precisely for that reason I am working without sparing any effort: the opportunity to work may not present itself again. This is so much more the case with me: after all, an unusually strong attack could destroy me as an artist forever (LT 605).
One of the famous paintings from his Saint Remy stay is Portrait of Madame Trabuc, or Jeanne Lafuye Trabuc (1834-1903). Little is known of her other than she was married to the head warden at St. Remy, and was 55 when she posed for van Gogh. Vincent describes her to Theo:
She [Madame Trabuc] is an unhappy, faded, and quiescent woman, so inconsequential and unnoticeable that I felt an acute wish to paint on canvas this dusty blade of grass (LT 605).
This sentiment is captured in van Gogh's controlled brushstokes that define Madame's dress; these vertical, evenly spaced marks are remote from the impasto, or thick, circular strokes more typical of his art paintings. Van Gogh made a copy of this Trabuc portrait for Theo, making it impossible to know if the Hermitage painting is the version from the live model or this copy. And who cares? It's stunning, brilliantly capturing her quiet, unassuming demeanor.
A painting of the same year acknowleges the esteem van Gogh held for Jean-Francois Millet, recorded in a letter he wrote after seeing some of Millet's drawings on sale:
When I went into the room in the Hotel Drouot where they[Millet's drawings] were exhibited, I was seized by a feeling something like this: Take off your shoes; you are standing on holy ground.(LT 29).
Vincent van Gogh. Morning: Going Out (After Millet), January, 1890. Oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 36 1/4". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
In this art painting, van Gogh's brushstrokes are energetically applied as he employed color to create moods rather than to replicate reality. As he told Theo, "Instead of trying to reproduce what I see before me, I use color in a completely arbitrary way to express myself powerfully." His reliance on the expressive values of color made him a darling of later Fauvists and Expressionists... and of art museum visitors everywhere!
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CURIOUS about art history? Discover Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history flash cards showing leading art paintings in Western art history. With faithful reproductions and explanations of each famous painting, they're perfect for those interested in teaching or learning the history of painting.
LOOK at a sample Masterpiece Card!
Posted by Susan Benford
While I'm usually all about famous paintings, two customer service tales take precedence this week - one a true karma workout, as my friend, Jan, says, and the other, stellar service. It began innocously - I ordered a sports jacket from Bloomingdale's for my husband's birthday. Several days later, our son called UPS to pick up a package of diabetes supplies for return to Neighborhood Diabetes. You guessed it - UPS picked up the Bloomingdale's package and returned that to Neighborhood Diabetes, who called to report the error and kindly re-sent the package.
Except it got lost. Armed with tracking number, I called UPS for help and got Kara. After I explained the snafu, it unfolded like this:
Me: So what happens now that the package is missing?
UPS: Thank you for your patience, Ms. Benford (TYFYPMB). What's the tracking number?
Me: Oh, I just spoke that into the voice-activated system. Here it is again. H(as in Henry)98S(as in Sam)P(as in Peter)...
UPS: We delivered that to 75 Fletcher Road on 7/7 at 6:32 p.m. and left it at your front door.
Me: I know - The Voice said that, but I never got it.
Edvard Munch. The Scream, 1910. Tempera and pastels on cardboard, approx. 36" x 29". Munch Museum, Oslo.
Tuesday's title: Please Connect Me to a Thinking Human.
UPS: TYFYPMB. Did you check with neighbors?
Me: Well... but you said it was left at my front door.
UPS: Ah, yes. You need to call Bloomingdale's to report that it's lost.
Me: Bloomingdale's? The package was shipped by Neighborhood Diabetes. Since it was delivered to my house, why do I need to call ND? Isn't this a UPS problem?
UPS: TYFYPMB. Policy says the shipper must initiate a missing-package claim.
Me (having just spent 20 minutes with ND locating the tracking number): Wait a minute. I look at this as a mistake that UPS made, and feel that UPS should rectify the problem.
UPS: It's UPS policy about how this must work, Ms. Benford.
Me: May I please speak to a supervisor?
Francisco Goya. The Duchess of Alba, 1797. Oil on canvas, 82 1/2" x 58 1/6". The Hispanic Society of America, New York.
Tuesday's title: I Insist YOU Fix Your Mistake, UPS!
UPS: May I put you on hold? Click (before I respond).
UPS (8 minutes later): Hello, Ms. Benford. TYFYP. This is [name omitted]. Kara has updated me on your situation, and I'll happily call Bloomingdale's for you.
Me: Bloomingdale's isn't even in the picture! They aren't the shipper!
UPS: Well, that's not what Kara said.
Me (Retells the switch-up saga, take two). And please, don't thank me anymore for my patience, which is now in short supply.
UPS: I understand your situation, Ms. Benford. Contact Neighborhood Diabetes and ask them to initiate a missing package search.
Me: You know, this is chewing up more time than I have -- and I really feel that finding the package is your responsibility, given that UPS made the mistake. See what I mean?
UPS: It's not taking a long time, Ms. Benford -- we've only been on the phone for 7 minutes.
Me: It's been 46 minutes for me!
Call mysteriously disconnects. While fuming, I hear the Siren-call of decapitating weeds and find it suddenly enticing. Maybe my husband didn't need a sports jacket anyway. Should I save it for his next birthday? As I don my garden sneakers, the phone rings.
Voice: Hello, Ms. Benford? This is Suzanne from UPS in South Carolina. Are you having a shipping problem?
Me (not containing my shock and awe): Are you serious?
UPS: TYFYPMB. Please tell me what happened.
That morning, my computer started flashing red, menacing lock symbols and wouldn't boot up. With Dell customer support, we deduced that either the motherboard died (bad news) or the CPU did (even worse news). Horrible news, in fact, for an internet business, and highly unamusing for a woman just back from four days of helping elderly in-laws secure in-home nursing care.
Dell customer service promised that a technician would come to my house/office the next day, and then asked if my computer 
Henri Matisse. The Dance, 1909-1910. Oil on canvas, 102" x 154". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.Tuesday's Title: Susan Greets the Dell Technician.
needed other parts, like key covers they might replace at the same time. Proactive thinking! No false and ingenous concerns for my patience! A customer service person empowered to fix problems!
At the end of Monday, I was computer-less still -- inconvenient, but with a forthcoming solution within a prescribed timeframe, it's no biggie. A far more consequential issue than a missing sports jacket, but with UPS' abysmal customer service, the jacket saga rankled. And still does.
Russell, the Dell technician, arrived as scheduled yesterday (see above), swapped out the motherboard, and replaced the rubber feet on my trusty steed. I'm good to go.
Seth Godin, who blogs about internet marketing and business issues in Seth's Blog, observes that most companies measure customer service reps on the wrong metrics, like calls taken per hour. Why isn't it obvious that this metric favors speed in lieu of customer satisfaction (read his thoughts in Thanks for calling, please go away)? He notes in other posts that corporations have begun to monitor negative comments posted online -- any wagers on whether UPS might call?
Meanwhile, I'm off to email Dell and thank them for Russell's exemplary customer service. It's still too hot for sports jackets, anyway. And TYFYPDR (and thank you for your patience dear reader) - I can't help it that I think of life in terms of famous paintings.
P.S. Then there was the
other UPS snafu, famous in family lore. With the Red Sox in the World Series, I finally buckled to our boys' request for a big screen TV, due to arrive two weeks prior to the games. The arrival date came and went, I DID contact the shipper, we cancelled the party (sans TV, we went elsewhere), and two weeks later we learned that UPS delivered it to our neighbor, who'd been shamelessly watching it for two weeks...
Posted by Susan Benford
The Caravaggio painting, The Taking of Christ or The Kiss of Judas, was recently recovered in Berlin after four members of a reputed international gang of art thieves attempted to sell it. Stolen in July 
2008 from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine, the Caravaggio painting was cut from its frame after thieves bypassed the museum's antiquated alarm system.
The Taking of Christ shows Jesus immediately after being kissed and betrayed by Judas (hence the painting's alternative title, The Kiss of Judas); soldiers drag Jesus away as his disciples observe in horror. In true Caravaggio fashion, there is disagreement about this art painting. Some contend 
it is merely a student's copy of the identically-titled Caravaggio painting housed in the National Gallery of Ireland (left).
Nor is Caravaggio controversy limited to his art paintings. Efforts to identify his bones -- four centuries after his mysterious demise - are riling the art history community. A group of Italian researchers, headed by Silvano Vinceti, announced last week they are "100% certain" they've identified the bones of the famous painter. These fragments may be seen in Porto Ercole, Italy, where they are displayed on a red velvet cushion in a transparent box. (Read more details about Caravaggio's bones here).
An indication of the controversy comes from Keith Christiansen, the Met's curator of Italian and French painting, who commented, "I don’t see why anyone would be remotely interested in finding Caravaggio’s bones. I thought relic worship went out with the Middle Ages.”
Meow.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interested in art paintings and the history of art? So is Masterpiece Cards, the publisher of art history flash cards featuring 250 famous paintings. Each is 
reproduced on a 4" x 6" Card; its reverso shows facts about each art painting, and a commentary about its significance according to a prominent art historian. Or two.
Which art paintings are included? Download the free Famous Paintings ebook.
Already swooning at the idea of "Famous Paintings in a Box"? Order Masterpiece Cards here -- they're just $75 for the set of 250.
Posted by Susan Benford
Could a famous painting by Michelangelo hang unattributed at the Metropolitan? With Renaissance art over four centuries old, one might think all the famous paintings by Michelangelo would be known and attributed. Wrong!
Everett Fahy, the recently retired Chair of the European Paintings department of the Metropolitan, 
St. John the Baptist Bearing Witness, ca. 1506-07. Oil and gold on wood, 29 3/4" x 82 1/2". Metropolitan Museum of Art. asserts that a painting presently attributed to the workshop of Francesco Granacci (1469/70 - 1543) is actually a Michelangelo painting. As Fahy notes, "Michelangelo, like van Gogh, attracts a lot of crazy ideas, and people are going to say this is another absurd idea. I'm expecting that they're going to throw brickbats."
Fahy, a pre-eminent, internationally-known scholar of Renaissance art, introduces his thesis in the June issue of ARTnews. This previews his forthcoming, 65-page article, "An Overlooked Michelangelo?". Fahy investigates a series of panels detailing the life of Saint John. The first of these, Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist, is held by the Met, and shows an angel informing Zacharias about the birth of his son, John the Baptist. This is a "typical work by Francesco Granacci", according to the Met, which states that the second panel (possibly a pendant, or paired painting) is by "another, superior artist."
Enter Fahy, who persuasively argues that this "superior artist" is none other than the Renaissance genius, Michelangelo. Fahy documents numerous similarities between Michelangelo's style and that in this second panel. For instance, on the right of St. John, who wears a rose-colored robe on top of his hair shirt, are two pharisees; one of them is pointing up toward 
Michelangelo. Philosopher, ca. 1495-1500. Pen and Brown Ink, British Museum.
Christ who enters the scene with five disciples. This pair of pharisees, Fahy observes, resembles the Michelangelo drawing, Philosopher, at the British Museum. Further, the panel's St. John is evocative of Michelangelo drawings at the Louvre, Nude Man and Study for the colossal statue of David victorious. The Met observes that figures in the panel are similar to those in the background of Dona Tondo,
Michelangelo. Holy Family (Doni Tondo),ca. 1504-05. Oil tempera on wood, approximately 47" diameter. Galleria degli Uffizi.
another masterpiece of Renaissance art. Further evidence comes from the Met's conservation department, which examined each underdrawing in the five panels. Four revealed detailed, careful preparatory drawings, while the second panel showed a more fluid and bold style like that of Michelangelo. It should be noted that in Renaissance art, especially in Florence, a commissioned artist would retain other painters to assist him; it was generally assumed that the assistants would follow designs from the lead painter, which was clearly not the case here, Michelangelo painting or not!
The evidence is leaning toward another Michelangelo attribution (although the Met still claims that this Renaissance artwork is from Granacci's circle). For more details of Fahy's persuasive argument, read the ARTnews article, Why It's a Michelangelo.
With apologies for the small size of the contested Granacci or Michelangelo painting -- that's the best I could track down!