Who Painted That - The 19th Century Quiz

Answer: Edouard Manet

"A Bar at the Folies-Bergere" is an 1882 painting by Edouard Manet, often considered to be his last major work. Depicting a scene from the Folies-Bergere nightclub in Paris, it shows a barmaid standing in front of a mirror. Reflected in the mirror is the man with whom the barmaid is apparently conversing. The barmaid is not merely an abstract representation, but is actually a girl known as Suzon, who worked at the club in the early 1880s.

Manet originally displayed the painting at the Paris Salon, the official exhibition of the Academie des Beaux-Arts, in 1882, before passing it to his friend, the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who had commissioned the work. Chabrier displayed the painting above his piano until his death in 1894. Two years after Chabrier died, his extensive art collection was auctioned. The painting was ultimately acquired by industrialist and art collector Samuel Courtauld, becoming part of the collection that was used to establish the Courtauld Gallery in London, which opened in 1932.

Answer: James MacNeil Whistler

"Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1", usually known simply as "Whistler's Mother", is an oil painting by American artist James MacNeil Whistler of his mother, Anna. Produced in 1871, while Whistler was living with his mother in London, the painting was exhibited at the 1872 Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art, where it was displayed as "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's mother"; the inclusion of the subtitle was to meet the Victorian sensibilities that would not accept a portrait as an "arrangement". However, subsequent to it being displayed for the first time, the painting became known as simply "Whistler's Mother". Whistler produced a second, similar painting, this time of the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, the same year, which was named as "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2", leading to the first painting receiving the designation "No. 1".

Whistler eventually pawned the painting, leading to it being purchased by the French government, in 1891. Initially displayed at the Musee du Luxembourg in Paris, it was subsequently displayed in a number of the public art galleries in Paris, including becoming the first painting by an American artist to be part of the Louvre's collection. In 1986, a new gallery, intended to form a bridge between the collections of the Louvre and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, opened in the former Gare d'Orsay. Included in the works transferred to the new Musée d'Orsay was "Whistler's Mother", where, with the exception of a number of temporary displays in various American galleries, it has remained ever since.

Answer: John Everett Millais

"Ophelia" is a painting produced in 1851-52 by John Everett Millais, depicting the character of Ophelia from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". The scene shows the character afloat in a river, in the period immediately before she drowns, a scene depicted off-stage in the play. Millais produced the painting in two parts - during a five month period in 1851, he produced the landscape by working six days a week on the banks of the River Hogsmill in Essex, before returning to his studio in London, where, using his muse, the artist Elizabeth Siddal, as a model, he produced the figure of Ophelia. He realised the effect of Ophelia floating by having Siddal float fully clothed in a full bathtub. Although Millais made attempts to keep the water warm, as the work was being done in mid-winter, Siddal caught a heavy cold, which led to her father sending Millais a letter for medical expenses.

"Ophelia" was first exhibited publicly at the Royal Academy in 1852. Upon its unveiling, it received a mixed reception from critics, with even John Ruskin, a great admirer of Millais, guarded in his praise for the painting. However, over time it came to be reassessed, being regarded as an accurate depiction of a natural landscape, and becoming an influence on many artists. Millais sold the painting for 300 guineas to art dealer Henry Farrer in December 1851, who went on to sell it to B.G. Windus, a major collector of Pre-Raphaelite art. Eventually ending up in the collection of sugar merchant Henry Tate, it formed part of the initial collection of the Tate Gallery, established in 1894. Today it forms part of the collection of Tate Britain in London, one of the galleries that form the Tate network.

Answer: Edgar Degas

"The Absinthe Drinker", also known in French as "L'Absinthe", is a painting produced by Edgar Degas between 1875 and 1876. The work depicts a man and a woman in a cafe, apparently sharing a glass of absinthe. Both appear to be suffering from lethargy, with the woman, who has the glass in front of her, staring vacantly at it. Degas used two models to portray the figures in the painting - Ellen Andree, an actress who also frequently modelled for several French artists, including Manet and Renoir in addition to Degas, and Marcellin Desboutin, a painter, printmaker and writer. Degas used the Cafe de la Nouvelle-Athenes, a cafe in the Place Pigalle in Paris that was a regular haunt for several painters, which led to it appearing in a number of Impressionist works.

The painting was first exhibited in 1876 under the title "Dans un Cafe", with critics scornful of it. As a result, it was not exhibited again until 1892, when it was auctioned at Christie's in London as part of a sale of paintings in the collection of Henry Hill. The setting and people in the picture were regarded by English critics as being degraded and uncouth, with many seeing it as a warning against the dangers of both absinthe and the French in general. In 1893, it became part of the collection of Count Isaac de Camando who, in 1908, offered it, along with a number of other works in his collection, to the French government, at which point "L'Absinthe" was exhibited at the Louvre before, in 1986, it was moved to the Musee d'Orsay collection.

Answer: Paul Delaroche

"The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" is an 1833 painting by Paul Delaroche which features the last moments of Lady Jane Grey, the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII, prior to her execution in February 1554. The painting, produced three centuries after the event, was one of a number of large portrayals of historical events that Delaroche had produced up to that point. However, there are a number of errors in the painting, such as the fact that the execution is depicted as taking place indoors, when in fact it was conducted in the open air on Tower Green, that indicate either the artist's unfamiliarity with this subject, or that he took artistic license in composing the picture.

Delaroche produced the painting following the events of the July Revolution of 1830 in France, which deposed King Charles X. The deposed king was the brother of King Louis XVI, who was executed in 1793 during the French Revolution. As a result, Delaroche's painting, in which the subject bore a resemblance to Louis XVI's executed queen, Marie Antoinette, was emotive and popular when exhibited in the Paris Salon. Originally part of the collection of Anatoly Demidov, it was purchased by Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore in 1870, and then, after his death, was bought by Cheylesmore's son, in 1891. In 1902, the 2nd Baron bequeathed "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey", along with four other paintings, to the National Gallery's collection in 1902. The painting, which was stored at the Tate Gallery, was thought destroyed in a flood in 1928, and was only rediscovered in 1973, when it was finally transferred to the National Gallery.

Answer: JMW Turner

"The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838", universally known as "The Fighting Temeraire", is an 1839 painting by JMW Turner featuring HMS Temeraire, a second-rate ship-of-the-line, being towed up the River Thames by a steam tug to Rotherhithe in preparation for it to be broken up for scrap. It is believed that Turner may not have actually witnessed the event itself, instead using a great deal of artistic license in producing the painting, particularly in regard to the ship, which is depicted as masted and still with cannon aboard, when in reality it would have had its masts and rigging removed, and its guns, anchors and other assorted equipment salvaged by the Royal Navy for re-use. However, Turner's atmospheric style, combined with the reputation of HMS Temeraire, which had served at Trafalgar, led to the painting becoming a popular success when it was first exhibited.

Initially unveiled in 1839 at an exhibition at the Royal Academy, "The Fighting Temeraire" received rave reviews, with even William Makepeace Thackeray, who was known for his flippancy in reviewing art, giving it high praise. Turner retained the painting until his death in 1851, with its only transfer being in 1844, when he loaned it to the publisher J. Hogarth, who had an agreement with the artist to produce a series of reproductions of his paintings. However, Turner, who was independently wealthy, refused all offers to sell the painting, and was determined to leave it to the nation. Following his death, "The Fighting Temeraire", along with many other of his finished works, was left to the nation with the intention that they be displayed in a special gallery. Most are part of the Tate Gallery's collection, but "The Fighting Temeraire", voted the UK's favourite painting in 2005, is on display at the National Gallery.

Answer: John Constable

"The Hay Wain" is a landscape by John Constable depicting a scene on the River Stour, on the border between Essex and Suffolk. The painting depicts a team of horses pulling a large wain, or farm wagon across the river. Constable produced the picture in 1821 at a location near Flatford Mill, a watermill in Suffolk owned by his father, and incorporated Willy Lott's Cottage, the subject of another of his landscapes, into the landscape. "The Hay Wain" (which the artist originally titled "Landscape: Noon") was one of a series of large-scale paintings that Constable termed his "six-footers" that he produced for annual summer exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London.

Initially exhibited at the 1821 Royal Academy exhibition, "The Hay Wain" received no attention from potential buyers, and was left unsold. However, three years later it was one of a group of Constable's works that was put on display at the 1824 Paris Salon, and caused a sensation, even being awarded a gold medal by King Charles X. As a result, the painting was sold to art dealer John Arrowsmith. It passed through the hands of a number of dealers before ultimately coming to the attention of collector Henry Vaughan, who purchased it from the estate of its previous owner, along with Constable's full-scale preparatory oil sketch. In 1886, Vaughan presented the painting itself to the National Gallery, in whose collection it remains, while on his death in 1899 the sketch was bequeathed to what is now the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In a 2005 poll, "The Hay Wain" was named as the UK's second most popular painting.

Answer: John William Waterhouse

"The Lady of Shalott" is a painting by John William Waterhouse, depicting the eponymous character from the 1832 poem of the same name by Tennyson. Produced in 1888, it was the first of three canvases that Waterhouse produced of the character, and is regarded as one of his most famous works. Produced in the Pre-Raphaelite style, the painting depicts the character at a particular point from the end of the poem, where the lady gets into a boat and proceeds to meet her destiny. The setting that Waterhouse used has not been identified, although he often used locations in Devon and Somerset as the basis for his pictures, while the model is believed to be Waterhouse's wife, Esther Kenworthy.

"The Lady of Shalott", having been completed in 1888, was purchased by the sugar tycoon and art collector Sir Henry Tate, who presented it to the public in 1894 as part of the collection that was ultimately used to establish the Tate Gallery - the painting remains in the Tate's collection and is displayed at the Tate Britain gallery in London. Of the other two works by Waterhouse to feature the character, "The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot" (1894) is on display at the Leeds Art Gallery, while "I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Said the Lady of Shalott" (1915) is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Answer: Francisco Goya

"The Naked Maja", often known by its Spanish name of "La maja desnuda", is a painting by Francisco Goya depicting a woman reclining nude on a bed of pillows. Goya undertook the work between 1791 and 1800 under commission from Manuel de Godoy, the First Secretary of State of Spain. The painting is regarded as one of the earliest Western pictures to depict female nudity without negative connotations, as the model gazes unashamedly at the viewer. Goya produced a companion piece, "La maja vestida" ("The Clothed Maja") between 1800 and 1807, seemingly depicting the same figure, but this time dressed in the costume of a fashionable lower-class woman from Madrid, who were known as "maja". The identity of the model remains unknown, but has been speculated to either be a young woman named Pepita Tudo, who was the mistress of Godoy, or Maria Cayetana de Silva, with whom the artist was believed to have been involved.

"La maja desnuda" was initially recorded as being part of the collection of Godoy, which he displayed in a private room reserved for nudes. However, in 1808, the picture was discovered by investigators of the Spanish Inquisition, with Godoy forced to name the artist, who was subsequently brought to answer questions. However, the Inquisition accepted Goya's response that he had simply been emulating previous artists that had produced nudes that had been admired by the church. Both the nude and the clothed paintings were held by the Inquisition between 1814 and 1836, before being returned to the collection of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. In 1901, they both became part of the collection of the Museo del Prado, where they remain on display side by side.

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

"The Starry Night" is a Post-Impressionist work by Vincent van Gogh, depicting the view from the east facing window of his room at the Saint-Paul de Mausole asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Painted in June 1889, it shows the view, with wheat fields and cypress trees, alongside a stylised depiction of the Moon and a number of stars, just before sunrise. The painting also includes an imaginary village, which would not have been visible from the window. Van Gogh produced a total of twenty-one paintings of this view during his period in the asylum, at different times of the day and under different weather conditions, with "The Starry Night" being the only one classed as a 'nocturne', or a painting of a night scene.

Having initially held onto the painting, van Gogh sent it to his brother, Theo, in September 1889. Following Theo van Gogh's death in January 1891, less than six months after the death of the artist, his widow, Jo, became the caretaker of van Gogh's collection of paintings. "The Starry Night" was sold in 1900 to the poet Julien Leclercq, who subsequently sold it the following year to Emile Schuffenecker, a friend of Paul Gaugin. In 1906, having been bought back by Jo van Gogh, it was then sold to the Oldenzeel Gallery in Rotterdam, who then sold it back into private hands. In 1938, it was then purchased by art dealer Paul Rosenberg, through whom it was purchased in 1941 by New York's Museum of Modern Art. "The Starry Night" is one of the most recognisable paintings in Western art and is regarded as van Gogh's masterpiece.