A Menagerie of Art Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jan Brueghel the Younger

Painted around 1640, "Allegory of War" by Jan Brueghel the Younger features many of the aspects of war. There are rifles and other weaponry featured. Dogs are battling dogs while birds are attacking other birds. He was known for painting landscapes, religious subjects and fantasy paintings. Brueghel was also known for copying other painters' work, especially his father's.

This often led to confusion as to which of the two artists actually painted a painting.

Answer: Winslow Homer

One of the leaders of the Realism movement, Winslow Homer is known for his landscapes often located on the beach. This painting entitled "Fox Hunt" is one of his more unusual works, featuring a snow covered beach with waves crashing in the background. Your eyes are drawn to the fox attempting to run through the thick snow, even though neither the face nor the expression of the animal can be seen.

In this painting Homer manages, through his use of angles and shadow, to express the animal's energy and strength.

Answer: Claude Monet

Painted in 1869 by Claude Monet, "The Pheasant" is an oil on canvas that displays the artist's attention to detail. Monet was one of the founders of French Impressionism, which often featured common everyday objects. This painting is a prime example of the delicate, yet visible, brush strokes and unusual visual angles used in Impressionism.

Answer: Post-Impressionist

Paul Gauguin believed that true art displayed abstraction, and use of color was up to the artist and did not have to be realistic. In this painting, the bodies of the puppies are outlined in bold blue, the scale and placement of all objects are somewhat disorienting. He is thought to have been one of the most influential artists of the Post-Impressionist style of painting.

Answer: False

This oil on wooden panel painting depicts the Biblical figure of Noah herding the animals onto the Ark before the flood starts. This is a busy painting with a profusion of animals filling both the earth and the sky. Animals are portrayed climbing, flying, playing and swimming. This magnificent painting feature dozens of animals from elephants to hamsters. Pointillism is painting with small dots of paint merging together to make the scene. Brueghel was a Flemish Renaissance painter who painted centuries before pointillism had evolved.

Answer: Stone lithography

In this artwork the design is done on a smooth lithographic stone, using pen and grease crayon and grease ink and then transferred to print. This style of artwork gave a natural effect and was particularly efficient in bringing out the colors of nature.

It also left no plate marks and added a subtle, ethereal touch to the finished product. This process was used for illustrating books, and each image was given final touches by hand before being readied for individual binding.

Answer: Woodcut

Woodcut printing was popularly used in 15th century Europe. This is a print of a type made by relief carving the design into a block of wood which is done by leaving the printing parts level with the surface. The non-printing areas are carved out leaving a raised design.

The block was then inked and pressed onto paper. The block can be used over and over to make multiple prints. Entitled simply "The Rhinoceros", this image was created by German artist Albrecht Dürer to be used as a book illustration.

Answer: False

This chalk drawing, by an unknown artist, was one of the many drawings used in the natural history work by Conrad Gesner "Historiae Animalium" around 1551. Chalk drawings are pastel by nature, and are used to create a picture that has soft edges and uses very little shadow. This type of art can be visually pleasing but is usually not as detailed as some other forms of art.

Answer: Edward Lear

Edward Lear was a creative genius known for his limericks, poetry, book illustrations, and animal paintings. Known as "Head of a Chimpanzee", this watercolor painting was over an original graphite drawing. Done in a realistic style, this painting manages to anthropomorphize this animal by depicting him with clothing and an expression of intelligence.

Answer: Lascaux Caves

Lascaux Caves in southern France are home to some of the most beautiful examples of Paleolithic paintings. The caves are home to multiple images of stags, bison, large cats and aurochs. The pigments that were used in this artwork came from natural minerals, and no signs of brush strokes are evident.

It is thought that the outlines were done with moss or possibly hair. The rest of the paintings were thought to have been filled in with natural paint blown through a tube by mouth.