An Artful Trade Trivia Quiz

Answer: Siena

In the 14th century, the Republic of Siena in Tuscany was one of Italy's most powerful and prosperous city-states. Between 1338 and 1339, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, one of the city's foremost artists, painted three fresco panels in the council hall ("Salon of Nine") of Siena's Palazzo Pubblico (town hall).

The most innovative aspect of this stunning fresco cycle is the depiction of the effects of both good and bad government in the city and the country. "The Effects of Good Government in the City" probably depicts the city of Siena as it was at the time, and the shops clearly visible in the foreground emphasize its prosperous economic conditions.

While the Good Government section of the cycle is in reasonably good condition, "The Effects of Bad Government" has been badly damaged by moisture; however, what remains is enough to show that a bad government is detrimental to the economy - the only business still thriving being that of the armourer. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, like his brother Piero, is said to have died in the great plague of 1348, which brought an end to Siena's golden age. Part of the Palazzo Pubblico is now a museum, and open to visitors.

The Palio horse race is run twice a year in the Piazza del Campo, where the Palazzo Pubblico has stood for over 700 years.

Answer: Peter

Painted in the 1420s, Masaccio's famous "The Tribute Money" is part of a cycle on the life of St Peter, the fisherman who - according to Catholic tradition - became the first Pope. The passage in the Gospel of Matthew - together with the "render unto Caesar" passage in the synoptic gospels - has often been used to justify the legitimacy of secular authority.

In the painting, the scene is told in three sequences that do not occur in chronological order, but are nonetheless kept logically cohesive by compositional devices - such as the hands of both Jesus and Peter pointing to the left, where Peter is shown retrieving the coin from the fish's mouth.

The central scene shows Jesus and the apostles being confronted by a tax collector demanding tribute. Because of its revolutionary use of perspective and light, as well as the realistic depiction of the human figures, this painting is considered one of the cornerstones of the Renaissance.

The Brancacci Chapel is found in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, though visitors must access it from a separate entrance.

Answer: Belgium

Though born in Leuven (Louvain), Quentin Matsys was active for most of his life in the port city of Antwerp, the capital of the Belgian province of the same name. In Antwerp's thriving business environment, there was a constant demand for money-changers.

However, Metsys' painting (dating from 1514) has more of an allegorical and moral nature than a merely descriptive one. Together with symbols of wealth and objects relating to the money-changer's profession, there are religious symbols (such as a rosary and the devotional book the wife is reading, albeit distracted by the money and precious objects her husband is handling), and others that suggest the frailty of the human existence (the half-snuffed candle on the shelf).

The mirror on the table reflects the outside world, which is the root of the couple's wealth. Similar scenes were painted in the 17th century by other Flemish and Dutch artists.

The painting is on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Answer: Henry VIII

Born in the German city of Augsburg, Hans Holbein the Younger - the son of a distinguished painter and draughtsman - is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. Some of his best-known works in this field date from the years (1532-1540) he spent in England at the court of Henry VIII.

It was during this time that he painted the portrait of Georg Giese, one of the merchants from the powerful Hansa League who were stationed at the Steelyard, the League's main London trading base. Dating from 1532, the portrait shows the sitter dressed in the garb of a wealthy merchant, surrounded by objects clearly relating to his work (such as correspondence bearing his name, his family seal and leather-bound books) and others with a symbolic value (the clock and the flowers).

The painting hangs in Berlin's Gemäldegalerie.

Answer: Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple

Born on the island of Crete (at the time part of the Republic of Venice), Dominikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614) was known as "El Greco" (The Greek) because of his origins. His work is immediately recognizable for its dramatic style, characterized by bold, almost garish colours and elongated figures, which give his paintings a very modern feel.

Many of El Greco's works are religious in inspiration, and he seems to have been particularly fond of the episode of the Cleansing of the Temple, which is found in all four Gospels. On visiting the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was angered when he saw a crowd of merchants and money changers in the Temple's courtyard - so much that he overturned their tables and chased them away. El Greco painted several versions of the episode; the one shown in the photo - known as "Christ Cleansing the Temple" - can be viewed at Washington DC's National Gallery of Art. Painted by the artist during his stay in Venice, probably before 1570, it depicts a rather chaotic scene whose dramatic intensity is not diminished by some technical errors. Money, animals and other objects appear in the foreground, though most of the emphasis is placed on the tangle of human figures targeted by Jesus' wrath.

Answer: Caravaggio

One of the undisputed masterpieces of Baroque painting, "The Calling of St Matthew" was painted by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio between 1599 and 1600. In the story as told by Matthew himself in his Gospel, Jesus sees the future apostle (a publican, or tax collector, named Levi) sitting at his table in a custom house, and tells him to follow him. In the painting, Jesus points directly at Matthew (the bearded man in the centre who, in turn, is pointing at himself) - his commanding gesture reinforced bt the beam of light coming from the window above the table. The painting showcases Caravaggio's masterful use of chiaroscuro, and the symbolic contrast between the gloom of the enclosed space and the light of truth. "The Calling of St Matthew" hangs in the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the French national church in Rome, together with two other paintings, "The Inspiration of St Matthew" and "The Martyrdom of St Matthew".

The three artists listed as incorrect choices are also major Baroque painters.

Answer: tulips

Flemish Baroque painter Jan Brueghel the Younger came from a family of painters, whose best-known member was his grandfather, Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Though mostly a painter of meticulously detailed landscapes, Jan also produced allegorical and satirical scenes, such as the one shown here, "A Satire of Tulip Mania". The painting, dating from about 1640 and held in a private collection in Austria, portrays a group of monkeys dressed in 17th-century costume, all engaged in various transactions centred on tulip bulbs. Tulips were first introduced in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century, quickly becoming a coveted status symbol because of their striking colour patterns. Prices rose steadily, and in the 1630s speculation took hold of the market - leading to an abrupt collapse in February 1637. Though many investors lost their money, the bursting of the tulip bubble did not significantly impact the prosperity of the Dutch Republic in its Golden Age.

Another version of this painting can be viewed at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem (Netherlands).

Answer: William Hogarth

Edward Matthew Ward is mainly known for his historical murals in London's Palace of Westminster. The 18th century was one of his main sources of inspiration, and throughout his career he painted many scenes based on the work of William Hogarth, the satirical artist whose pointedly realistic portrayal of 18th-century British society enjoyed wide popularity even long after his death. "The South Sea Bubble, A Scene in Change Alley, 1720" (painted in 1847, and displayed at London's Tate Britain), shows a group of investors being taken advantage of by unscrupulous stock jobbers in an alleyway of the City of London. Founded in 1711, the South Sea Company was created to trade with South America at a time when Britain was involved in the Spanish War of Succession - a recipe for disaster. The company's shares rose sharply and collapsed in a short period of time, ruining many investors and damaging the national economy. Odd as it may sound, the company survived for more than a century after the crash.

The three incorrect answers are also influential British artists who were active between the mid-18th and the early 19th century.

Answer: Yokohama

Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide was a member of the Utagawa school, a group of Japanese artists that specialized in woodblock prints in the popular "ukiyo-e" style. Between 1859 and 1862, Sadahide produced a series of "Yokohama-e", prints depicting foreigners and their goods in Yokohama, the city in Tokyo Bay that was one of the ports opened to outsiders in 1854, after the end of Japan's 220-year self-imposed isolation. "Sales Room at the Foreign Trade Building in Yokohama" (1861) is a triptych print that shows the interaction between the traders and the locals in a positive light - in contrast with the xenophobic propaganda that had become common in the years following the treaty between Japan and the United States. The print is part of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art collection of Asian art.

Japan's largest municipality, Yokohama is now part of the huge Greater Tokyo Area. Hiroshima and Sapporo are also located in Japan, though Sapporo is not a port; Busan, on the other hand, is South Korea's second-largest city.

Answer: Impressionism

Telemaco Signorini was one of the artists who met at the historic Caffè Michelangiolo, in the centre of Florence, in the years 1855-1860; he later published a memoir in which he detailed the discussions that took place during those meetings. The group, dissatisfied with the outdated conventions of the art taught in Italian academies, began experimenting with outdoor painting - much as the French Impressionists did just a few years later. The group's name comes from "macchia", the Italian word meaning "stain" or "spot", referring to the areas of light and shadow that, according to the Macchiaioli, were the main components of a work of art. During his life, Signorini travelled extensively, but most of his work depicts places from his native Tuscany, and especially his hometown of Florence. "Antica Via del Fuoco" depicts a narrow street in Florence's Mercato Vecchio (Old Market) district; the influence of photography on Signorini's work is evident in the composition, which in the foreground shows the front of a shop selling coal. The painting can be viewed at the Pinacoteca Giaquinto in the southeastern Italian city of Bari.

While Futurism is also an Italian artistic and literary movement, Expressionism originated in Germany. Surrealism began in France and Belgium in the 1920 - over 50 years later.