# Art History people. Today's mystery is:

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-history-people-todays-mystery-is/257424>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 29, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-history-people-todays-mystery-is/257424 "2004-07-29T11:37:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-history-people-todays-mystery-is/257424/1 "2004-07-29T11:37:08Z")

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[Identify this](http://www.detnews.com/2004/homestyle/0407/24/e26-220195.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> My son left me at a barn sale so he could get this home,” says Chantal Kalinowski of Livonia. “I guess I know where I rate.”
> 
> Looking at the large, 3 1/2-by-6-foot print, it’s easy to see why her son was torn. For $50, he picked up the colorful print at an Illinois barn sale a few years ago. The people he bought it from had no idea of its background, only that they had bought it at an auction along with two other prints.
> 
> It shows what looks like a mythical scene with writing that could be Latin or French that reads “ **Cy Yert U Sieges** ,” and the letters **GALAAQ.** A tag on the back that has since fallen off read Chicago Art Institute. Another tag reads “Warren Edwards & Co. Fine Arts, N. Clark St., Chicago.”
> 
> Expert Frank Boos was intrigued by the print but couldn’t offer a lot of solid information about its subject. He felt it may have some reference to the crusades or the Middle Ages.
> 
> “It appears to be an allegorical print or chromo lithography and is in very good condition,” he says. “This may be the largest print I’ve ever seen.”
> 
> Determining the date was difficult, but he says it would bring $700 to $1,000 at an auction, not a bad return on a $50 investment.
> 
> “I hope your son has a wall large enough to hang this one,” he says. “It’s beautiful.”

Bolding mine.

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**Author:** ![Somnambulist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Somnambulist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somnambulist)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-history-people-todays-mystery-is/257424/2 "2004-07-29T13:24:41Z")

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> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> [Identify this](http://www.detnews.com/2004/homestyle/0407/24/e26-220195.htm)

A bit tricky from the photograph in your link as it’s not all that clear. However, as a starting point, from the lighting and mood, and what I can determine from the subject matter it is reminiscent of the British Victorian neo-classical movement (Leighton, Alma-Tadema, Watts, et al.). Will have a dig around and come back if anything similar turns up.

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-history-people-todays-mystery-is/257424/3 "2004-07-30T17:10:46Z")

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Yeah, some late 19th-C. pre-Raphaelite business-- not my bag. Medieval topic would be typical of that movement. If it’s a lithograph from that period it could be worth that much, depending on the market-- if it’s a later reprint, who knows? Is this of personal interest to you?  
I’m amused by the phrase “writing that could be Latin or French that reads “Cy Yert U Sieges””-- wha? _Could be_ Latin or French writing? What does that _mean_? I’d like to see a better photo of that writing.