Missing Masterpieces Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt was a Dutch artist born in 1606. His works, like "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee", are very dramatic. This painting is his depiction of Christ calming waters as described in Luke 8:22-25. It is his only seascape. It was completed in 1633 when Rembrandt was only 27.

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

This scene of "The Battle of Anghiari" was commissioned to da Vinci to be frescoed on the wall of the new state hall in Florence opposite that of Michelangelo's fresco of the Battle of Cascino in 1364. It was the first and only time these two giants of the Italian Rennaissance were commissioned together and in direct competition with one another.

Unfortunately, Leonardo like Michelangelo never finished the fresco. This work is often referred to as "the lost Leonardo". The pictured scene is by Peter Paul Rubens who used pieces of Leonardo's cartoons to emulate how Leonardo's work might have appeared.

Answer: Poppy Flowers

Van Gogh completed "Poppy Flowers" in 1887 shortly before he shot himself. The painting is quite small, measuring one foot square. In the 1997 theft, the painting was recovered in Kuwait by Egyptian authorities. Details of this theft have never been released.

In the 2010 theft, thieves cut the painting from its frame with a box cutter. The Egyptian government imprisoned several individuals responsible for security at the museum for negligence after an investigation found that none of the security cameras were operable, nor were numerous alarms.

The painting remains missing.

Answer: Renoir

Paul-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841. He began his career as an impressionist artist but later changed to painting more portraits, especially involving women. "Madeleine Leaning on her Elbow with Flowers in her Hair" was completed in 1918, shortly before Renoir's death.

Answer: Analytical Cubism

Picasso painted "Le Pigeon Aux Petit Pois" in 1911. Analytical Cubism is an early form of Cubist art. A possibly overly simplified definition would be that early Cubists attempted to create a view of objects from different geometrical angles, often overlapping.

The thieves were caught, but this Picasso has never been recovered.

Answer: Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael, was an Italian artist of the late or high Renaissance. This painting, thought by some art historians to be a self-portrait, was painted circa 1512. A contingent of the invading Nazis went directly to the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland where they looted hundreds of pieces of fine art.

The museum staff were able to secret this work and some others, behind a museum wall. When found, the painting was carried off to Germany where it was to be part of the Fuhrermuseum, which was never built.

A Da Vinci and Rembrandt were recovered, but Raphael's work remains missing.

Answer: The Concert

Vermeer's "The Concert" dates to the mid-1660s. Two thieves disguised as policemen stole 13 pieces of art from the Gardner Museum. Up to that time it was the largest art theft in history. Mrs. Gardner bought the painting from a private estate. It was her first major acquisition.

Answer: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

"The Nativity with St. Frances and St. Lawrence" (also known as "The Adoration") by Italian Baroque Master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, better known as Caravaggio, was stolen in 1969. The painting is massive, 9 ft x 6.5 ft, and was cut from its frame. It is believed to be in the hands of the Sicilian Mafia.

Answer: Paul Cezanne

On New Year's Eve, 1999, during the fireworks, a thief or thieves broke into the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University and stole Cezanne's landscape painting "View of Auvers-sur-Oise". He or they left many other valuable paintings untouched. Its whereabouts are unknown. Paul Cezanne was a student of Rembrandt's, and this painting was originally attributed to him.

Answer: Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet painted this small piece (10x13 inches or 26x34 cm) about 1875. He died in 1883 at the age of 51 from complications arising from syphilis. Manet was of the French modernist school. He was more famous for painting large scenes, often including nudes.

Answer: Landscape with an Obelisk

Govert Flinck was a student of Rembrandt's. "Landscape with an Obelisk" was originally credited to Rembrandt. This oil-on-wood painting was completed in 1638 and is very close in composition to some of Rembrandt's landscapes. The painting remains missing.

Answer: Kunsthal Museum

Paul Gauguin was a French post-Impressionist artist. He was associated with Pissarro and Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne. "Girl In Front of an Open Window" was stolen from the Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Answer: Jan van Eyck

The altarpiece is considered a masterpiece because it was the first major oil painting of the Renaissance. It took 7 years to complete, from 1420 to 1427. The thief sent eleven ransom notes to the Belgium government. All were declined.

Jan Van Eyck and his brother Harold were Dutch artists. Jan is considered by some to have invented oil painting.

Answer: The Battle of Cascina

Michelanglo never got started on the fresco. He was called away to Rome by the Pope. He was only able to complete a cartoon (penciled sketch). It is this original sketch that was lost or stolen. Only fragments of it remain. From these fragments various artists have tried to reproduce Michelangelo's concept of the "Battle of Cascina".

Answer: Lady and Gentleman in Black

"Lady and Gentleman in Black" was painted in 1633. It is quite large, measuring about 4' by 3 1/2'. It depicts a couple, probably fairly affluent and well-dressed. This is not Rembrandt's only painting of couples, but the others are painted on two separate canvasses.