Guess the Artist

Your clues this week are:

• The artist was British, a member of the Royal Academy, and active in the second half of the 19th Century.
• The artist had five brothers, two of whom were noteworthy. One was a 13th (and end of the line) Baronet, and the other was assassinated in Dublin on May 6, 1882.
• The goats in this painting are truly an Old breed: they date back to the most recent "ice age," which hit its peak around 20,000 years ago. Unfortunately, the breed is very nearly extinct in 2012. One feral herd remains and, in a country that has been in financial crisis since 2008, funds for a captive breeding program are not high priority.

And


• The setting for this picture is an island. You may now be saying, "There are over 180,000 islands on Planet Earth, you fiend!" Not usually a sadist, moi, here are three hints to help you narrow things down. First, the place is lousy with heather, which is what the girl has rolled up in her apron. Second, it is rocky as all get out. So much so that the natives built dry stone walls around their plots of land, rather than planting hedgerows. Third, there is a pony named after one part of this island.

Please email me your guesses over the coming week. I'll post the winner and correct answer with next week's guessing game. Good luck!

Last Week's Answer:

The clues last week elicited three correct responses, each of which contributed a little something different. Tui knew that the artist was Martiros Saryan (or Sarian, or even Sar'yan), an Armenian who lived from 1880 to 1972, and gave the title of the painting. Natia sent a charming note that Mt. Ararat was so easy for her that she was compelled to play. Alison then chimed in after figuring out the Armenian village is Byurakan, hence the painting's title Ararat from Byurakan, 1957. (And by the way, I was not kidding about the overall ugliness of Սուրբ Յովհաննես եկեղեցի.) Thank you very much, ladies. Job well done!

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