400 Years of Spanish Art: A Timeline Quiz

The Mannerist artist El Greco (aka Doménikos Theotokópoulos, 1541-1614) painted "View of Toledo" in or about 1600; it's to be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

As his name suggests, El Greco was Greek, from Crete. He travelled to Venice and on to Rome where he became influenced by Mannerism, before finally arriving in Toledo in Spain in 1577.

His style of painting was unique, unlike anything being produced at that time. It was dramatic and expressionist, and modern-day critics can see the roots of Cubism and Expressionism in his odd perspectives and elongated figures. His style of painting, seemingly violent and careless, was a quest for freedom. The bulk of his output was devotional, with an intensity of mood that matched the religious devotion of Spain at that time; however, he also excelled as a portraitist.

His influence upon later painters was profound - for example, there's a strong resemblance between Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907 - now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York) and El Greco's "The Opening of the Fifth Seal" (1614 - now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York).

The Baroque Caravaggist artist Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) painted "Saint Francis in Meditation" in 1639; it's to be found in the National Gallery in London.

As with most Spanish artists of the time, most of Zurbarán's work was devotional: nuns, monks, saints and martyrs, many depicted with a powerful use of chiaroscuro that led to him being referred to as the "Spanish Caravaggio". He was also a skilled still-life painter.

A wonderful series by Zurbarán depicting the patriarch Jacob and his 12 sons can be seen in the Spanish Museum in Bishop Auckland in County Durham, north-east England.

The Baroque artist Diego Velasquez (1599-1660) painted "Las Meninas" in 1656; it's to be found in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.

He was an apprenticed artist at the age of 11, and was one of the first artists to paint what became known as "bodegones" - kitchen scenes with prominent still-life elements. The best-known of these, painted at the age of 19, is "Old Woman Frying Eggs" (1618 - now in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh).

When the king's favourite painter died in 1622, Velasquez was invited to Madrid, where he became the de facto royal portraitist. It's also known that he twice visited Italy, during which visits he picked up the notion of painting his pictures on a light gray ground, which seemed to add luminosity to the works.

His greatest painting is "Las Meninas" - possibly one of the most famous works of art ever produced in Spain, an outstanding work of baroque art. Nominally it's a picture of a young princess with her attendants, but there are unsettling elements - for example, Velasquez himself can be seen painting the picture, and there is a mirror in the background which seems to show the reflections of the king and queen of Spain. It's all very mysterious because you don't know whether the couple are standing beside you, the viewer, or whether the reflection is of the painting that Velasquez is producing!

Velasquez was not a prolific artist, producing only about 120 works in his career. However, with research and proper cleaning techniques more of his paintings are coming to light.

The Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) painted "Three Boys" in 1660; it's to be found in the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

Murillo is known mainly as a painter of religious images, but he was also popular for his street scenes depicting children - "The Young Beggar" (1645 - now in the Louvre in Paris) and "Boys Eating Grapes and Melon" (1646 - now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich) are good examples of his work in that genre.

He died in 1682 after falling off scaffolding while painting a fresco in a church in Cadiz.

The Still Life artist Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716-1780) painted "Still-Life with Oranges and Walnuts" in 1772; it's to be found in the National Gallery in London.

Not all Spanish painters were obsessed with devotional and religious works - for a time in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a demand for still-life pictures. The outstanding painter of these was Luis Meléndez, but sadly his work received little acclaim during his lifetime and he died in poverty. He did manage to sell at least 44 pictures for the private museum of natural history belonging to the Prince of Asturias (later King Charles IV of Spain); 39 of these are in the Museo del Prado in Madris.

His work is excellent, showing an ability to present the volume and texture of mundane objects. His pictures of olives, figs, oranges and other foodstuffs are amazingly realistic, and he excels at painting the reflection of light off copper kitchen pans and other utensils.

The Romantic artist Francisco Goya (1746-1828) painted "The Third of May 1808" in 1814; it's to be found in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.

Goya was the pre-eminent painter of his day, bridging the gap between old masters and modernism. He started out as a craftsman designing rococo-style tapestries, but became severely ill in about 1793 and lost his hearing as a result. This was possibly caused by Ménière's disease, but it's also possible that he was suffering from lead poisoning, as he used a large amount of lead white (which he ground himself) in his paintings. He also seemed to plunge into depression, with his output reflecting his bleak outlook on life.

Two important painting that followed this were "La Maja Desnuda" and "La Maja Vestida" (1800 and 1805 respectively - both now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain). The former of these two is thought to be "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art", i.e. without any pretense of being allegorical or mythological in meaning.

The French invasion of Spain in 1808 led to the painting of "The Third of May 1808" in 1814; it shows the execution of hundreds of Spaniards who were involved in an uprising in Madrid on the previous day. The great art critic, Sir Alan Clarke, referred to it as "the first great picture which can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word, in style, in subject, and in intention".

During this time Goya was also producing the series of 81 etchings known as "The Disasters of War", graphic depictions of death and destruction during the French occupation. These were not shown in public until 1863. Goya withdrew from public life as he aged, tormented by his old age and fearing madness. One of his last works was the graphic "Saturn Devouring His Son" (1820 - now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain).

A great artist but a very troubled man.

The Cubist artist Juan Gris (1887-1927) painted "Portrait of Picasso" in 1912; it's to be found in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gris was raised and studied painting in Spain, but moved to Paris in 1906 where he met such luminaries as Matisse, Braque and Apollinaire. After working as a cartoonist he took up painting seriously in 1911, clearly being influenced by Picasso. His work was based on straight lines and angles: his "Portrait of Picasso" is a clear example of this approach.

He went on developing this style until his early death at the age of 40. However his work is in demand - in 2014 his painting "Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux (Still Life with Checked Tablecloth)" (1915 - now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) sold for £34.8 million.

The Surrealist artist Joan Miró (1881-1973) painted "The Harlequin's Carnival" in 1925; it's to be found in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.

Miró began his studies in art in Barcelona at the age of 14. His early work was influenced by Fauvism, Cubism, and Dadaism, but he was best known among the Surrealists. Miró produced Surrealistic work for the rest of his life; it was free of the constraints of logic and reason, with no accessible or representational elements. A lot of it is to an extent playful.

WWII forced him to return to Spain to escape the German invasion of France, but it was at this time that he began to achieve international recognition; a large retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1941 solidified his reputation. Wishing to further his communication with a wider audience, he went to the US in 1947 to work in public spaces, and he was commissioned to produce two massive ceramic murals for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris; this won him a Guggenheim International Award in 1958.

The Cubist and modern abstract artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) painted "Guernica" in 1937; it's to be found in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain.

Picasso was probably the most famous artist in the Western world in the 20th century; he co-founded Cubism and help develop numerous strands of modern art in various media. It's impossible in notes like this to give a full view of his achievements - for example, the production of two of the most important paintings of the 20th century, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907 - now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York) and "Guernica" (1937 - now in Madrid).

"Guernica" is an astonishing work, a huge canvas (25 feet by 11 feet) bringing home the first horror of bombing raids upon civilians: dead babies, screaming women, a dismembered soldier, a gored horse and fire. Since its creation it has toured the world, but it's now housed permanently in Madrid. A full-size tapestry copy hangs at the entrance to the Security Council chamber at UN Headquarters in New York.

The Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1983) painted "Christ of St. John of the Cross" in 1951; it's to be found in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.

Salvador Dali is one of the 20th century's major artists, with a range of works exploring all areas of surrealism in many media. His longevity and his considerable output brought his name to the world's attention, although I have to say that to an extent there was a notion of "ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" about his work, to quote Johnny Rotten.

To be honest I dislike the bulk of his work, with one noticeable exception: the 1951 painting of the crucifixion now housed in Glasgow. It's extraordinary, a depiction of the event from the point of view of an onlooker above the cross, looking downwards upon the top of Christ's head and the back of his neck. It's devoid of nails, blood and a crown of thorns - it's totally unlike any crucifixion scene ever painted.