Congratulations to Gianlorenzo Bernini, the Baroque sculptor who overcame a No. 4 seed to win the inaugural M(art)ch Madness. Bernini beat No. 2 seed Caravaggio in the final, a matchup of two Baroque artists who knocked off higher seeded Michelangelo and Leonardo in the Final Four. Bernini, who survived a regional with Picasso, Cezanne and Raphael, was one of the few sculptors in the field of 64, making his win all the more surprising. Here is the final bracket. I was pleased that this project got as much traction as it did. I was worried I might have to cast all the votes myself,  so I was gratified that as many as 90 people cast votes in some rounds. No knowing what to expect, it was also interesting to see how fans of certain periods ahem Baroque ahem mobilized to vote as a bloc. More power to them. It certainly paid off for Bernini. An all-20th century bracket was the overwhelming preference for next year’s tournament, so I’m hoping some of the Renaissance and Baroque scholars will stick around. Many thanks to everyone who participated. We’ll close with the amazing Baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, designed by Bernini:

This is it, the final match up in M(art)ch Madness. After starting with 64 artists spread over 600 years, the finalists are a pair of Italian Baroque artists. To get to the championship, No. 2 seed Caravaggio and No. 4 Bernini each knocked off a higher-seeded Renaissance artist in the semi final. Caravaggio beat Dali, Van Eyck, Durer and Vermeer before taking down No. 1 seed Michelangelo, while Bernini took down Delacroix, Titian, Cezanne and Goya before thumping No. 2 Leonardo ad Vinci. The full bracket is here. Whoever wins will have earned their trophy.

Because I received some feedback that the contest was perhaps a wee bit absurdly broad in its scope, I’m thinking about narrowing down the field next year. After voting, take a moment to weigh in on possible future art history competitions. And without further ado:

Championship

No. 2 Caravaggio vs.

No. 4 Gianlorenzo Bernini

(Not coincidentally, these two works are a short walk from each other at the Galleria Borgehese in Rome)

 

And here is a poll of your preferences for future versions of M(art)ch Madness:

Here it is, the penultimate round of M(art)ch Madness. The field of 64 has been whittled down to the Final Four. Surprisingly, it’s four Italian artists, and all from the Renaissance or Baroque brackets. Such is the power of bloc voting! Only one No. 1 seed – Michelangelo – remains, while No. 4 Bernini is the lowest remaining seed. Here is the full bracket and here are some FAQs about what this is all about.

No. 2 Leonardo da Vinci vs.

No. 4 Gianlorenzo Bernini

 

No. 1 Michelangelo vs.

No. 2 Caravaggio

 

It’s an all-Italian Final Four as No. 2 Leonardo beat top-seed Rembrandt with just 52 percent of the vote (or a mere two votes).  In the other three regionals, the higher seeds advanced, with No. 1 Michelangelo beating No. 6 Van Gogh, No. 2 Caravaggio beating No. 8 Vermeer in another close match and No. 4 Bernini holding off No. 6 Goya. The bracket with voting percentages is here.  In the semi finals, Michelangelo faces Caravaggio while Leonardo takes on Bernini. If the seeds hold, we’re looking at an all-Renaissance final. Can a Baroque artist make it to the last game? We’ll see. Voting starts tomorrow.

In honor of the departed, here is the Rembrandt I never got to use:

Welcome to the Elite Eight round of M(art)ch Madness, where we cut the field down to the Final Four. To recap, we started with 64 artists, seeded 1 through 16 in four historical eras. We matched ’em up, NCAA-basketball style, and you voted on who should advance. With only eight teams left, the voting is quicker, but the choices are harder. You can see the full 64 team bracket here. If you’re wondering the hell this is all about, check out these FAQs

Florence Regional

No. 1 Michelangelo vs.

No. 6 Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

Amsterdam Regional

No. 1 Rembrandt Van Rijn vs.

No. 2 Leonardo Da Vinci

Paris Regional

No. 2 Caravaggio vs.

No. 8 Johannes Vermeer

 

New York Regional

No. 4 Gianlorenzo Bernini vs.

No. 6 Francisco Goya

The results are in for the Sweet 16 round, and it was a good weekend to be Baroque. Artists from the Baroque and 18th century bracket won all but one of their match ups, and make up five of the Elite Eight. The one exception was the seemingly unstoppable Michelangelo, who blew past Rubens with 78 percent of the vote. Elsewhere, though, it was Baroque/18th C. artists pulling upsets, with No. 6 Goya toppling No. 1 seed Picasso, No. 8 Vermeer beating No. 3 Matisse and No. 4 Bernini knocking off No. 2 Cezanne. No. 1 seed Rembrandt also advanced, as did Leonardo and Van Gogh.

After three rounds, the Final Four is taking shape. The winner of Michelangelo/Van Gogh will play the winner of Caravaggio/Vermeer while the winner of Rembrandt/Leonardo plays the winner of Bernini/Goya. An all-Renaissance or all-Baroque final is a distinct possibility. The updated bracket is here and Ellite Eight voting will start later today.

Welcome to the third round of voting in M(art)ch Madness, where we’ll cut the field from 16 to eight! Some big names – Manet, Pollock and Raphael among them – have already been voted out as we went from 64 to 16. The complete bracket with all the voting results is here.  The format is the same: cast your vote using any criteria you want. Voting will close Monday.

Florence Regional

1, Michelangelo vs.

No. 5 Peter Paul Rubens

6, Vincent Van Gogh vs.

7, Hieronymous Bosch

Amsterdam Regional

No. 1 Rembrandt vs.

No. 4 Claude Monet

No. 2 Leonardo da Vinci vs.

No. 3 Jean-Jacques David

Paris Regional

No. 2 Caravaggio vs.

No. 4 Albrect Durer

No. 3 Henri Matisse vs.

No. 8 Johannes Vermeer

New York Regional

No. 1 Pablo Picasso vs.

No. 6 Francisco Goya

No. 2 Paul Cezanne vs.

No. 4 Gian Lorenzo Bernini

 

Welcome to the second round of M(art)ch Madness, where you decide which of history’s greatest artists advances to the Sweet 16, and who goes home. Voting will be open through noon (New York time) on Thursday. You can see the full 64-team bracket, and the first-round voting percentages, here

First round recap:
Most of the higher seeds got through – which meant the seedings were accurate (yay me) – although some just barely. Diego Rivera, a 12 seed, came two votes shy of toppling No. 4 Monet, and No. 2  Pollock just hung on against No. 15 Georges De La Tour. A pair of No. 10 seeds pulled off upsets over No. 7 seeds: Jan Van Eyck handily beat Mondrian, and Courbet topped El Greco. No. 9 seed Turner also upset No. 8 Bruegel.

Florence Regional

1, Michelangelo vs.

8, Robert Rauschenberg

2, Jackson Pollock vs.

7, Hieronymous Bosch

3, Diego Velasquez

6, Vincent Van Gogh

4, Wassily Kandinsky vs.

5, Peter Paul Rubens

Amsterdam Regional

1, Rembrandt Van Rijn vs.

9, J.M.W. Turner

2, Leonardo da Vinci vs.

10, Gustave Courbet

3, Jean Jacques David vs.

6, Mark Rothko

4, Claude Monet vs.

5, Marcel Duchamp

Paris Regional

1, Edouard Manet vs.

8, Johannes Vermeer

2, Caravaggio vs.

10, Van Eyck

3, Henri Matisse vs.

6, Sandro Botticelli

4, Albrecht Durer vs.

5, Edgar Degas

New York Regional

1, Pablo Picasso

8, Auguste Rodin

2, Paul Cezanne vs.

7, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

3, Raphael

6, Francisco Goya

4, Gian Lorenzo Bernini vs.

5, Titian

What’s the point?

Mostly, to have fun. But also to see what happens when you cross the world of sports with the world of art. I’m a fan of both, and it seemed interesting to apply the rigid rules of the NCAA college basketball tournament to the much more nebulous world of art history.

I don’t know anything about art. Can I play?

Of course. I’ve tried to provide a representative sample of each artists work – just vote for what you like. And you probably know more about art than about college basketball, anyway.

What’s the format?

I tried to mirror the classic NCAA men’s basketball tournament structure as closely as feasible. So: 64 artists broken down into four historic brackets, and seeded 1 through 16. In the first round,  the No. 1 seed plays No. 16, No. 2 plays No. 15 etc. In the second round, the winner of 1 vs. 16 plays the winner of the 8 vs. 9 and so on. I mixed the brackets so in the first round (and most likely the second round) the artists will face off against someone outside their historic era. The full 64-artist bracket is here

How did you seed the artists?

I wrote a bit about that here. Essentially, I tried to come up with what would be the consensus choices, based on fame, skill and significance. If you polled 100 art historians about the top 16 in each bracket, hopefully the result would be something similar.

Why did you choose those historic eras?

I could only have four, based on the NCAA structure, so they needed to be broad to include as many artists as possible. And I needed to have 16 artists that are widely recognizable in each, which eliminated ancient and non-Western art. 1400 seemed like a reasonable starting point. I ended it with pop art, because it was too hard to decide which artists after that would be in the canon.

That said, the choice of historic eras is a bit arbitrary and I could have broken them down into four other categories. Painters, sculptors, architects and photographers, perhaps. Maybe next year.

How come you put (artist X) in (bracket Y)?

Some just didn’t fit neatly, like Goya. Choices were made. Unfortunately, some artists probably fell through the cracks, like Klimt.

How come (my favorite artist) isn’t in the tournament? 

Again, choices were made and limiting it to 16 artists in each bracket resulted in some tough calls. I left out a lot of my personal favorites. If you think someone got screwed, ask yourself who you would take out?

What happens next?

After the close of the first round on Sunday, I’ll post the second round of 32 artists on Monday. Then we’ll reduce the field to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four before choosing the champion in the first week of April. Stay tuned!