Spot the Ball

[goat starer]

In this shamelessly stolen game from 'I'm Sorry I havn't a Clue' http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/clue.shtml (if you have not heard this fabulous radio show have a listen online. There are many games we can pilfer!) I will be posting a famous picture and will be asking you to tell me where the 'ball' would have been in the original. If anybody gets the result on my card Samantha will be rewarding the player with points. And what do points mean?

Prizes!

Bonus points may be awarded for imagination and humour.

here is your starter Poppies at Argenteuil - Claude Monet



If anybody guesses the location of the ball correctly they can have a go as Humphrey.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I have no idea how this game works, so this is just a guess:

There is a very large ball next to the woman at the top of the hill; she has one hand on it to stop it from rolling downhill.  She is waiting for the right moment to let it go so that it bowls the woman and child at the bottom of the hill over.

Is that what you're looking for?

[goat starer]

that is exactly how it works Sibling buit I am afraid you were slightly out. The ball is in fact being held in the house on top of the hill. It is a fancy afair with nice frocks and waltzes. In future you can have more guesses! Try another...

Spot the Ball - Rembrandt the Night Watch

[beagle]

The bloke in the red velvet suit in the left foreground has just stuffed it down his musket as a precursor to shooting the irritating midget who keeps stomping on his foot. Unfortunatley he brought the butt of the gun back rather sharply which is why the lady in white immediately behind him has keeled over.
The man behind her has just stepped out of John Lewis to see what his new curtains will look like in daylight, only to emerge into the middle of the bi-monthly Amsterdam dog-sticking festival. The two men in the centre foreground aren't supposed to be there at all, but accidentally walked into shot at the last moment.

The whole picture is an allegory representing the over-manning of public services, and the importance of wearing a silly hat if you want to get ahead in art, and is a departure from Rembrandt's ouevre, in that there are no big women with no clothes on.

For many years it was though to be a painting of the Night Watch, until somebody realized the reason it was so dark was that the lightbulb above it in the Rijksmuseum had burnt out in the mid eighteenth century.

[goat starer]

Beagle whilst you do not have the correct reason you do have the right spot (ish) and may post your own picture.
In fact the bloke in the green behind the chap with the musket has just thrown the ball at the musketmans head. It will hit him in a moment causing an amusing musket detonation with hilarious consequences.

Off you go!

[beagle]

ok mon ami,

Here we have Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne, featuring a bonus ball; but we only need the one.



Happy hunting

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

It's above the head of Mr. Red Bedsheet.

He has just thrown it at Mr. (Ms.?) Blue Toga, who has swatted it back.  The ball went careening upward off Mr. Red Bedsheet's head (knocking his head to the side in the process, hence the odd angle).

[beagle]

No, but you're near enough because I can't be bothered to find another picture.

It's a representation of the famous "Bacchus was never offside" incident from the European Cup Winners' Cup final of 300B.C.
A satyr passed a high cross to Bacchus(playing in red bedsheet), who tried to head it past Ariadne. The gods were having none of that and you can see the shattered fragments of ball circling above Ariadne's head. Some still reckon the match should have been Bacchus's, but it's worth noting no-one since has tried using cheetahs as centre forwards. It takes more than just speed.

Your go matey.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Okay... here goes.  Spot the ball in this picture ("Bilking the Toll" by Cornelius Krieghoff):

[beagle]

I reckon the ball is in that concrete bunker looking building in the background, where the 1856 all-Canada squash championships are being played.

Incidentally, didn't the artist have any idea what he was doing? To stand any chance of selling prints of this on the shopping channel he needs a thatched roof and cross-beams on that place, smoke curling out of a quaint tumble-down chimney, and a light in the window. Ruddy amateur.

A cheerful looking snowman wouldn't do any harm either.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

You were close.  The ball is embedded in the snow in front of the dog; you can see the dog looking at it if you care to examine the painting.

It landed there after being thrown by the last man on the sled, bouncing off the knee of the man with the dog, and landing where it lays now.  The man is now out (leg before wicket).

Okay - your turn.

[beagle]

Ok, here we go...



(with apologies to Shepherd Neame/Spitfire Ale)

[anthrobabe]

there is no ball

[beagle]

The exact number was the subject of a song once popular here, but you're near enough.

Your go.

[anthrobabe]

Ok here is a try