Another hint: Person is an artist.

Damien Hirst
Pharmacy
Turner Prize

Yes.

This director (4,3,4), related to a famous artist, was very much in the news recently (unfortunately).

Director: 4,3,4 ("e" = 3rd letter of first name)

I'll see if someone wants to jump in.

Theo van Gogh.

This question sat for an hour and a half before I answered. I think fodorites do look at this thread from time to time, like I do, but the questions are SO out there, no one can answer, IMO.

You would and could generate more traffic, if you wanted to by keeping it light?? Just my opinion. I'm leaving from work now, will post a question later.

Theo van Gogh.

Clue: A famous painting called (name: 6 letters) by this painter (name: 6 letters) was commissioned for the (building: 9 letters) in (city: 5 letters), who has few surviving complete works. The painter is usually regarded as a rival of (name: 6 letters).

To make it easy, the first letter of the rival's name is "g."

Hint: If you've been reading the newspapers lately, this clue is very easy.

Oops. I guess someone else has answered already.

Feel free to come up with another clue, Lewis.

Personally I think that it's not easy to come up with good clues that aren't trivial and yet not totally obscure. The thread has been going on for quite a while as well, so the good clues have been used up already.

Anyway, I don't know if the clues are really that difficult. Personally I do try to come up with reasonable ones -- in this thread, I asked about Saarinen, Damien Hirst, Sir John Soane Museum, the Tate Modern, Emma Hope, Manolo Blahnik, etc. Maybe they're not household names, but they're not so obscure either. The phrasing can have something to do with it. If I'm lazy, I phrase my questions in a way that make the answers obvious (or so I think), but I usually put a little thought into the phrasing because I think that the people who come up with the answers should have to do a little thinking and connect the dots.

I guess I'm too compulsive checking this thread for my own good though, especially when it's slow at work. :-) But definitely more people should play this game -- my request would be to post a clue as soon as you're able to keep the ball rolling. Of course people have busy schedules, but it's good to see that a clue is promptly posted. It keeps the thread going for the others who're interested in playing.

Since I'm off today and can play on Fodors....

Painter: Simone Martini
Rival: Giotto
Painting: Maestà
City that commissioned it: Siena
Building: If the Maestà is correct, the building is the Palazzo Publicco, but that's not 9 letters. Some 9-letter possibilities are Municipio (located in the PP) or Consiglio (name of one of the room)

No, actually the artist is not Martini (unless there's another name for him).

The Met just paid 45 million for one of his paintings.

Maesta is the right painting though.

I'm not up on any news lately (except election-related) ever since I got back from my trip. But there's also a Maestà by Duccio (and by others--not a rare name for a painting), and Duccio's work is in the Met, and he'd been commissioned to do a work for the cathedral (9 letters) in Siena).

Yes, that's it.

Read about the Met purchase here (in yesterday's paper):

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/ar...gn/10pain.html

The article says that it's the first Duccio to enter the Met's collection though and mentions that the Louvre also doesn't have any Duccios. Most surviving works are fragments of the Maesta (a fragment can apparently be found in the Frick in NYC -- I guess I'll have to take a closer look next time).

So it's your clue (or Lewis's)!

A random question -- maybe there're people who follow auctions and know how the process works....

As far as I understand it, Christie's (in this case, it handled the sale) would get 10% (?) of the proceeds, which will be a couple of million dollars. Could the seller potentially save by just calling on the big hitters directly? Or maybe it's just worth putting something on auction to fetch is "true" value?

I'm curious, but I guess a couple of million is chump change when your painting is taking in 45 million.

I just dis a quick Google for Duccio and the Met and found that there is a Duccio in its collection. Isn't that odd?

I won't rush to pist a question, becaue I guess Lewis should be back at any moment to post one. But, if not, I will, since I'm off today. However, I'll be outside and not glued to the computer most of the day.

I know almost nothing about auctions.

Yeah, not sure whom to trust -- presumably NYT did its research.

(I'm quoting from that article....)

--

The only Duccio in a New York museum, ''The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain'' at the Frick Collection, is a "Maestà" fragment.

--

Maybe it's my ignorance, but I never know what the masterpieces at the Met are -- it seems like we just don't hear about them. Now at least we'll be able to rush to the painting that's 45 million when it gets displayed. :-)

Anyway, don't keep us waiting too long for the next clue, and enjoy your day off.

Something quick to splay with while waiting for Lewis:

This person was a Jewish, socialist physician, writer, and amateur painter who wrote about the people, mores, and everyday life in the impoverished, remote, neglected community to which he'd been exiled. Apparently just looking at the title and never reading or even glancing at the actual content, Barnes and Noble requires its stores to display this writer's most famous book on the shelves labeled "Christianity." That led me to wonder whether it might display The Scarlett Letter under "calligraphy," Gone with the Wind under "meteorology," The Red and the Black under "color theory," To Kill a Mockingbird under "ornithology," A Tree Grows in Brooklyn under "arboriculture," Moby Dick under...well, never mind, you get it.

The writer's name is a short one: 5 letters in the first name, 4 in the surname, with the second letter in the last name coming from the "e" in Siena.

Primo Levi?

It must be that "Christ stopped at Eboli" clue again....

Oops -- Carlo Levi....

Again? Did I post a similar clue before? Anyway, correct.

Yes, you did. You asked for the region (that starts with a "B" and ends with "ta") and linked in a trip report of yours to that region.

Since I answered that question -- exactly how, I don't know -- I remembered.

I'm obviously spending too much time on this thread. :-)