Art History Creature Feature Trivia Quiz

Answer: A rhinoceros

Rhinos apparently existed in the area at the time the paintings were done. You don't see too many now however except of course in zoo parks. There were also lions in the depictions.

Answer: a she-wolf

The Capitole she-wolf bronze statue in Rome comes from the 5th century BC.

Answer: dolphins

The dolphin fresco is in marvellous condition considering it is dated approximately 1450 B.C. It shows how the Minoans loved natural details. Other animal life may be seen too, including bulls, as that was a sport they played with athletes doing acrobatic stunts on the bull's back. Snakes were also a common image.

Answer: Rosa Bonheur

Bonheur (1822 -1899) had a great love of horses and was known for her portrayal of them. Her "Horse Fair" in the Metropolitan Museum of NY is one of the most famous works. She had a permit to go out dressed as a man in order to attend these events. Degas' aristocratic family had horses of course, and hunted.

Some of Degas' early work included them. A statue of a horse by Degas with an exposed neck may also be found. One of his only known "maternités" or mother and child pictures is at the horse races, "Carriage at the Races". Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) did horses of course and as a Romantic painter found animals the true expression of nature.

Instead of animals however, he had a special permission to view and sketch inmates in an asylum as well as decapitated heads.

He truly loved getting into his subject matter in his brief life. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), with an aristocratic background much like that of Degas, was quite interested in horses and even was injured in riding accidents that contributed to his legendary short stature as he had a bone disease as well.

His eccentric family loved animals too. His grandmother had monkeys and his father wrote notes about the pet ferret's care to his wife!

Answer: Georges Seurat, "A Sunday Afternoon at the Grande Jatte", (1884-1886)

Seurat's bathers and people going about their Sunday activities on the Island of the Grande Jatte outside of Paris was ridiculed for being wooden and one of the things that really drew criticism was that monkey on a chain being strolled by a lady. There are also several dogs in that painting as well as one in the "Bathers, Asnières".

The monkey is rather transparent if you look closely. This was probably the effect of Seurat's technique, which he and Signac called divisionism rather than pointillism.

The monkey in iconography has a sexual connotation, then again lots of animals do! The critics had a heyday with that monkey though. Hicks, an American Quaker preacher and painter, put just about everything in that animal kingdom painting, but no monkeys.

Answer: St. Jerome

St. Jerome is said to have taken a thorn from the lion's paw therefore it was faithful to him forever. Either St. Jerome is depicted in a library (my patron saint for translators) or in the desert with the lion. Sometimes the lion appears in the library.

Answer: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, the colourful and rather tormented Mexican painter companion of painter Diego Rivera, did her haunted portrait with a monkey on her shoulder in 1938. Paul Gauguin did many self-portraits, yet not with a monkey. Van Gogh also did many self-portraits, but the monkey wasn't one of the animals he ever drew with himself either. And no, he never portrayed himself with a banana in his ear either, a bandaged ear yes though. Picasso did a monkey riding on horseback however, he wasn't in this question, nor was it a self-portrait.

Answer: Franz Marc

Franz Marc (Munich 1880- Verdun 1916) painted animals very often, as he wanted to approach things with a primitive animalistic style. He really painted more horses than any other painter of this group too. Kandisky (Moscow 1866 -Neuilly sur Seine 1944) was the leader of the group. Matisse wasn't a Blaue Reiter. Harvard's art museum even devoted a show to Marc's horses.

Answer: Unicorn

"The Lady with the Unicorn", (1480-1500) depicted several panels of a tapestry, for the senses. The Unicorn appears throughout. This is one of the most popular motifs for needlework still. The mystery of the unicorn has never died down, as we can see in the Harry Potter series and other fantasy works.

Answer: a dog

Courbet's painting has a dog just strolling through the burial scene. As this also depicts people as they actually are in a small provincial town in the Jura region he came from, this dog is just the icing on the cake for people who found it undignified. The Musée Courbet is quite nice to visit if you're in that region.

Answer: Alfred Sisley

Courbet did a rather lascivious one, of a reclining nude in front of a pond reflecting her, with a parrot alighting on her hand, its wings spread out. As mythology was against his principles, that's about as close to mythological as you'll get with him! Renoir's is a very darkly clothed woman with red accents next to a parrot in a cage.

This was a very early work indeed (1871, Guggenheim). Manet's is a tall sedate woman in a white dress with a tinge of pink, next to a parrot on its stand.

Answer: Birds and dogs

This famous painting has engendered a lot of poetry. There are three birds perched on the branches of the tree and one flying. This is from 1565 and is in Vienna now.

Answer: horses

The ruler watches as the guards bring in everything and everyone, even the horrified white-eyed horses to be killed in front of his eyes in the stifling atmosphere. Delacroix was a keen painter of animals, frequenting the Jardins des plantes in Paris where the wild animals were kept. (They still are! It's just a name for Zoo).

Answer: goldfish

Matisse also did some of his abstracts or cut outs later in life and entitled them "Escargot" or snail. They were basically rectangles in a snail-like spiral. However the goldfish motif came up several times. One notable depiction of butterflies is Berthe Morisot's genteel butterfly hunt. Birds are depicted much more often as this quiz shows. Lizards, I'd have to work on that one a bit more!

Answer: a dog

This painting is now in the Prado museum. Picasso in particular was very much impressed by this painting and did a series of variations on it.

Answer: A horse

Michelangelo di Merisi da Caravaggio highlighted what might be called the most lovely portrait of a horse's behind and the light hitting the prostrated convert in this dramatic painting from 1600-1601. There are several versions however, the most famous probably being Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.

Answer: A small black cat

This famous depiction of a prostitute or courtesan and her impudent stare caused lots of ink to flow. His other Salon offering was "Christ Being Mocked by the Soldiers". The theme of this painting was from a poem by Zacharie Astruc. The cat however seemed to titillate people even Baudelaire. Titian's "Venus of Urbino" was a source for that, as he'd put a dog at the foot of his subject's bed. One critic of Manet said the cat had rolled out of a coal bin and come from a witch's Sabbath.

It was even portrayed in a cartoon or two!

Answer: Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg 1471-Nuremburg 1528) is often called the embodiment of the Renaissance man, and he basically is said to have unified the styles of the North and the South. Though his paintings stand out, his drawings and etchings are what attract many people, as they are so precise. Pisanello (Antonio Pisano 1395-1455) was also known for his drawings too. Donatello (1386-1466) besides giving his name to a Ninja Turtle was also a great draughtsman, however no rabbit sticks out in our minds. And to my knowledge, Michelangelo didn't put a rabbit up in the Sistine chapel, rest assured. No sense in getting a kink in your neck trying to see one.

Answer: Sheep

Sheep are depicted for the "Good shepherd" motif of Christ in the pastoral role. See the Galla Placida for example from the mid fifth century. Ravenna is one of the most important Byzantine monuments and is worth a visit. If you cannot make it to Hagia Sophia in Turkey, Ravenna will do!

Answer: Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin depicted the reddish orange dog on several occasions and some have surmised it represented himself fitting in to his new environment. At first the dog was a bit out of the circle then it began appearing closer to the center of the works. Chagall was famous for his farmyard animals floating around in his canvasses in his dreamlike depictions of his villages of his childhood.

The donkey appears in several as well as a few others.