Art Quiz
Question 1: When was this painting made?
Information
- Title
- Bouquet of Flowers
- Artist
- Paul Gauguin
- Date
- 1897
- Style
- Impressionism
- Location
- Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 2: What is this painting's style of art?
Information
- Title
- Portrait of Maffeo Barberini
- Artist
- Caravaggio
- Date
- 1599
- Style
- Baroque
- Location
- Private collection, Florence
- Comment
- The still undeveloped features of this young cleric, who later became Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) were portrayed as a much more distinguished figure by the skills of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Here, the face appears in chiaroscuro against a neutral background in such a way that a wall appears to be screening off the figure from the left. In order to give the figure more 'rilievo', or more three-dimensionality, the lit sections are painted against a dark, and the sections in shadow against a light, background.
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 3: Who made this painting?
Information
- Title
- St Ildefonso
- Artist
- El Greco
- Date
- 1603-05
- Style
- Mannerism
- Location
- Hospital de la Caridad, Illescas
- Comment
- In collaboration with his son Jorge Manuel in 1603-07, El Greco executed an extensive programme of pictures for the Hospital de la Caridad in Illescas: a Madonna of Charity, a Coronation of the Virgin, an Annunciation, and a Nativity. Under a separate contract a further picture was made, of St Ildefonso, who was particularly important for Toledo. The painting is in the side altar on the left of the main chapel of the church, balancing the Virgin of Charity. Its original place in the church is not known. The painting is not mentioned in the incomplete documentation for the decoration of the chapel, and if, as is probable, it was not painted at the same time, it cannot date much before June 1603, the date of the contract, and was more likely painted soon after the conclusion of litigation in August 1607. In its present position, it makes a grand pair to the Virgin of Charity, and is one of the most splendid of his 'portraits' of Saints. It is difficult, and perhaps not proper, to separate his portraits of Saints from his actual portraits. In both he employs all his means of spiritual or psychological expression. The legend is that Saint Ildefonso, the first Bishop of Toledo, presented an image of the Virgin of the Mantle to a foundation of his in Illescas. The Saint is portrayed before the same image, as he wrote his dissertation on the Purity of the Virgin. The state of inspiration is brilliantly expressed. There is an infinite distinction in expression between the hand poised with the pen in this 'portrait' and the similar motif in the portrait of his son. In his depiction of St Ildefonso, El Greco anticipated a Baroque motif, that of the learned churchman. As if receiving inspiration, the saint is seated at a desk covered with an array of utensils that is unusually detailed for the artist. There is a smaller replica of the picture in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It belonged once to the painter Jean François Millet, and later to Edgar Degas.
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 4: What is this painting's title?
Information
- Title
- Lamentation for Christ (detail)
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer
- Date
- 1500-03
- Style
- Northern Renaissance
- Location
- Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 5: Who made this painting?
Information
- Title
- The Wayfarer
- Artist
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Date
- -
- Style
- Northern Renaissance
- Location
- Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
- Comment
- In this circular painting Bosch reworked the figure of the wayfarer on the outer wings of the Haywain a decade or so later, this time placing him against one of his most delicately conceived landscapes. The rolling sand dunes at the right and the subdued tonalities of grey und yellow are sensitive transcriptions into paint of the rain-drenched Dutch countryside. The large foreground figure closely recalls the Haywain pilgrim, except that he appears even more haggard and poorly dressed. There are, however, some subtle differences. Except for the snarling dog, with its possible allusion to slander, the dangers of the world are here chiefly spiritual. They are embodied first of all in the tavern at the left, whose ruinous condition echoes the ragged clothes of the wayfarer. The tavern symbolizes the World and the Devil in general, its dubious nature revealed by the man urinating at the right, and by the couple embracing in the doorway. Another inmate of the house peers curiously through one of the dilapidated windows. The customer for whom the second woman waits may very well be the traveller himself. He has not just emerged from the tavern, but has passed it in his journey and his path leads towards a gate and the tranquil Dutch countryside beyond. Now he halts on the road, as if allured by its promise of pleasure. Whether the pilgrim will turn away from the tavern to pass through the gate is as doubtful. Some scholars assume that the picture represents an episode from the parable of the Prodigal Son. In this circular painting Bosch reworked the figure of the wayfarer on the outer wings of the Haywain a decade or so later, this time placing him against one of his most delicately conceived landscapes. The rolling sand dunes at the right and the subdued tonalities of grey und yellow are sensitive transcriptions into paint of the rain-drenched Dutch countryside. The large foreground figure closely recalls the Haywain pilgrim, except that he appears even more haggard and poorly dressed. There are, however, some subtle differences. Except for the snarling dog, with its possible allusion to slander, the dangers of the world are here chiefly spiritual. They are embodied first of all in the tavern at the left, whose ruinous condition echoes the ragged clothes of the wayfarer. The tavern symbolizes the World and the Devil in general, its dubious nature revealed by the man urinating at the right, and by the couple embracing in the doorway. Another inmate of the house peers curiously through one of the dilapidated windows. The customer for whom the second woman waits may very well be the traveller himself. He has not just emerged from the tavern, but has passed it in his journey and his path leads towards a gate and the tranquil Dutch countryside beyond. Now he halts on the road, as if allured by its promise of pleasure. Whether the pilgrim will turn away from the tavern to pass through the gate is as doubtful. Some scholars assume that the picture represents an episode from the parable of the Prodigal Son.
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 6: What is this painting's title?
Information
- Title
- Adoration of the Magi (detail)
- Artist
- Sandro Botticelli
- Date
- 1470-75
- Style
- Early Renaissance
- Location
- National Gallery, London
- Comment
- The magnificent peacock that is clearly visible in the scene is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ, for the bird's flesh was considered to be imperishable.
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art
Question 7: What is this painting's style of art?
Information
- Title
- Polyptych of the Misericordia: Crucifixion
- Artist
- Piero Della Francesca
- Date
- 1445-1462
- Style
- Early Renaissance
- Location
- Pinacoteca Comunale, Sansepolcro
- Comment
- This panel is the central part of the tympanum of the polyptych. It represents the Crucifixion which reveals the influence of Masaccio's polyptych for San Francesco in Pisa. But Masaccio created a dramatic atmosphere both with the moving gestures of the characters and with the strong, almost violent, colours; Piero's composition, on the other hand, is orderly and symmetric and the gestures of the figures are solemn, almost ritualistic.
- Source
- Web Gallery of Art