# What's an underappreciated work of classic art? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [September 29, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470 "2022-09-29T19:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/21 "2022-09-30T13:41:00Z")
It’s very difficult to appreciate a piece of sculpture without viewing it in person. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/22 "2022-09-30T14:11:32Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Yes. For the most part, they are viewed by modern art critics as kitsch; especially Bouguereau. They make great puzzles…just like Thomas Kinkade. I appreciate Bouguereau more than the other academic painters, but what I don’t like about him is the opposite of what I don’t like about Kinkade: those times when the former slavishly _adheres_ to realistic lighting at expense of aesthetics. Whereas Kinkade, despite his title as painter of light, has different sections of paintings that look cribbed together from slightly different angles that _detract_ from the effect. I like Kinkade _less_ than average for his genre. Sometimes Bouguereau has less harsh and more fantastic lighting on the faces of his paintings, and that is when I like them the most. (His realistic shadows in general I don’t dislike. In a 2 dimensional painting, however, having half of a face very bright with the other half very dark will almost always look distracting, no matter how correct it would be.) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/23 "2022-09-30T15:07:05Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > For the most part, they are viewed by modern art critics as kitsch; especially Bouguereau. Eh, I still like his stuff. Here is _Rest in Harvest_ by Bouguereau. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Bouguereau-Rest_at_harvest%281865%29.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Bouguereau-Rest_at_harvest%281865%29.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/24 "2022-09-30T16:34:47Z")
Everyone hears the phrase “Sistine Chapel” and thinks about Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes. Which are absolutely masterful and amazing no doubt about it. But when you’re actually there in person, his painting of the Last Judgement absolutely steals the show. It’s totally compelling compared to the ceiling, and yet there’s not much comment on it w.r.t. the Sistine Chapel relative to the ceiling. It’s 40 feet high and 45 feet wide, covers an entire wall, and the colors are every bit as vivid as the picture shows. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Last_Judgement_%28Michelangelo%29.jpg/1280px-Last_Judgement_%28Michelangelo%29.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Last_Judgement_%28Michelangelo%29.jpg/1280px-Last_Judgement_%28Michelangelo%29.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/25 "2022-09-30T19:00:50Z")
Paris, which really is wonderful, also has a [Rodin Museum](https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en). Definitely worth seeing. It has the Thinker, of course, but also The Kiss, which is perhaps more loved. [https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/musee/collections/oeuvres/kiss](https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/musee/collections/oeuvres/kiss) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/26 "2022-09-30T19:30:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Eh, I still like his stuff. Here is _Rest in Harvest_ by Bouguereau. Wow, that is quite unlike the rest of his stuff yet I still enjoy it. Had I seen it in a museum, I would have been reminded of Bouguereau by the general human art (even though the face itself is shadowed yet not shadowed harshly), but would not have positively guessed it was him because the grain is also clearly a focus of the painting yet is not as photorealistic as his usual focuses are. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/27 "2022-09-30T21:14:44Z")
I _love_ Bouguereau. My favorite of his is The Nut Gatherers. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Les_noisettes.jpg/1024px-Les_noisettes.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Les_noisettes.jpg/1024px-Les_noisettes.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/28 "2022-09-30T21:26:56Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > The art world generally loved American Gothic. The people of Iowa, however, felt it portrayed them as [“pinched, grim-faced, puritanical Bible-thumpers.”](http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22639) Eventually they came around > [https://blog.singulart.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/american-gothic-1040x1255-1.jpg](https://blog.singulart.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/american-gothic-1040x1255-1.jpg) _American Gothic_ is such an iconic, ubiquitous, and often clichéd work, that it’s hard to appreciate exactly how powerful it is. I certainly didn’t, until I saw it in person at the Art Institute of Chicago. I stood, mouth slightly agape, for a good ten minutes, thinking _“Okay, I see why this is a masterpiece of American art…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/29 "2022-09-30T23:34:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The Kiss, which is perhaps more loved. > > [The Kiss | Musée Rodin](https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/musee/collections/oeuvres/kiss) I can’t find a link but I think that was the inspiration for a somewhat more explicitly erotic take on the theme. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/30 "2022-10-01T00:00:35Z")
My favorite painting is the one of Henry VIII holding a turkey leg though I am having a hard time finding a copy of it online to display here. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/31 "2022-10-01T00:08:45Z")
Was it any of [these](https://fixinghenry.tumblr.com/)? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/32 "2022-10-01T01:08:43Z")
Probably thinking of the photograph instead. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/33 "2022-10-01T03:40:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Was it any of [these](https://fixinghenry.tumblr.com/) Wrong Tudor is holding the turkey leg in the first one. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/34 "2022-10-01T14:39:42Z")
You guys are making me nostalgic for the oeuvre of [Cassius Marcellus Coolidge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_Playing_Poker) and [Sir Edwin Landseer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laying_Down_the_Law). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/35 "2022-10-01T15:13:19Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > They are still well represented in the Musee d’Orsay. You know these guys? Yeah, I’m currently reading the journal of Marie Bashkirtseiff. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > _American Gothic_ is such an iconic, ubiquitous, and often clichéd work, that it’s hard to appreciate exactly how powerful it is. This, and it had more of an impact on me, and I looked at it more deeply, when I was told that it was the farmer’s daughter in the painting, not his wife, as I’d assumed. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/36 "2022-10-01T15:23:17Z")
I always think of The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Especially recently. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/37 "2022-10-01T15:52:36Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > This, and it had more of an impact on me, and I looked at it more deeply, when I was told that it was the farmer’s daughter in the painting, not his wife, as I’d assumed. I was especially struck by how young the couple was. I could be wrong, but I read that Grant Wood used his sister and his dentist as the models. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/38 "2022-10-01T16:04:41Z")
> [@GWF\_Hefel](#): > > Something a little more pleasant to look at than Saturn eating lunch. > > I give you the Venus Callipyge: I’ve seen that in the flesh and it is wonderful. In general I think there is a huge amount of roman sculpture that is barely known by name and without any real attribution to a specific artist but that is truly breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to take in the museums in the Forum of Rome, particularly the [Capitoline](https://romesite.com/capitoline-museums.html) and [Palatine](https://parcocolosseo.it/en/area/museums/the-museo-palatino/) museums, you will see sculptural wonder after wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/39 "2022-10-01T16:33:21Z")
These might be too new to be considerd “classic”, but think of any of the movements that “no one” does anymore, such as the Hudson River School, Ashcan Movement, or Social Realism, but which did have great pieces. Heck - think of Op Art. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470/40 "2022-10-01T18:17:09Z")
I find it sad that so much of Roman sculpture is Greek, and we’ll never see the originals they were copied from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-underappreciated-work-of-classic-art/972470.md?page=3)