Unbeknownst to me, when I wrote last weekend about romantic paintings for Valentine’s Day, the Art Fund in the U.K. was doing something similar. Except it sought nominations from experts and then took a public poll.
The works in contention were:
- Paul Gauguin’s, Nevermore, chosen by artist and broadcaster Matthew Collings
- Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne, nominated by writer and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon
- Jan Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, selected by artist Grayson Perry
- Nicholas Poussin’s Rinaldo and Armida, chosen by writer, critic and professor of literature at University of Essex, Marina Warner
- Samuel John Peploe’s Roses, chosen by presenter and Art Fund Prize chair of the judges, Kirsty Young
You can see them all here, with comments by the nominators.
Who won? Gauguin (below) — with 29% of the votes, the number of which was not disclosed.
Then came Peploe (26%), van Eyck (19%), Poussin (14%) and Titian (12%). Wrong Titian, no?
