Flat Baroque Trivia Quiz

Answer: Diego Velazquez

Spanish artist Diego Velazquez is probably best remembered for his 1656 painting 'Las Meninas', a title which translates into English as 'The Ladies-in-Waiting'. It is a large composition showing a "snapshot" style image of the young Infanta Margaret Theresa, other members of the royal court such as her ladies-in-waiting and a bodyguard, and Velazquez himself (working on large canvas to the side of the group). Velazquez was the court painter to King Philip IV of Spain (the Infanta's father) and much of his body of work consists of portraits of the Spanish royal family.

However, he also painted other scenes from both mythology and everyday life - 'The Rokeby Venus', a nude portrait of the Roman goddess of the same name, is a good example of the former and 'Old Woman Frying Eggs' (which the title pretty much fully describes) is clearly the latter.

Answer: Claude

The artist who painted these works was a 17th century Frenchman commonly known by the mononym Claude, although he was born Claude Gellée and is also known as Claude Lorrain since he was born in the (then independent) Lorraine region of France. He worked in Italy for the majority of his career and was one of the most famous landscape artists of his time. His work is largely characterised by the insertion of scenes from history or mythology into otherwise contemporary images and 'Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba', 'The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca' and 'Landscape with Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia' are all prime examples of this genre.

'Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba' and 'The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca' were both painted in 1648 and formed part of the founding collection of the National Gallery in London in 1824. 'Landscape with Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia' (1682) is believed to be Claude's last major work and was donated to Oxford's Ashmolean Museum in 1926.

Answer: Johannes Vermeer

'The Girl with a Pearl Earring' is the major clue that this group of paintings were all created by the Dutch Baroque artist Johannes Vermeer. The painting was the focal point of the novel 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Tracey Chevalier as well as its 2003 film adaptation, which starred Colin Firth as Vermeer and Scarlett Johansson as the famously bejewelled girl.

Vermeer was born, lived, worked and died in the Dutch city of Delft. He was not a particularly celebrated artist during his lifetime and his subsequent recognition as one of the greatest painters of the "Dutch Golden Age" did not happen until the mid-19th century - over 150 years after his death. His recognised works are largely views of his home city (like the imaginatively named 'View of Delft') or interior scenes portraying people in their everyday lives. The latter works (including 'Officer and Laughing Girl') often showed the subject seated next to a window and are good examples of Vermeer's use and depiction of light in his compositions.

Answer: Peter Paul Rubens

The Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens lived from 1577-1640 was particularly prolific. Over 1,400 original paintings have been attributed to him, excluding the large number of contemporary copies of his work made in his own studio. He painted a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, portraits, historical and mythological scenes, and religious imagery (which were generally commissioned as altarpieces for churches across Europe).

Rubens painted two versions of 'The Massacre of the Innocents', the first in around 1611 and the second around 25 years later. Several versions of 'The Judgement of Paris' also exist, including two large ones that have been displayed in London's National Gallery and Madrid's Museo del Prado. 'Samson and Delilah' - an oil on wood - dates from around 1610 and was purchased by the National Gallery in London in 1980.

Answer: Anthony Van Dyck

Sir Anthony Van Dyck was the court painter to King Charles I, which explains how he ended up with an English knighthood despite the fact that he was Flemish. The majority of his known works feature either the king himself or other members of the royal family or British nobility. His 1637-8 work 'Equestrian Portrait of Charles I' was one of several to depict the somewhat diminutive king sitting astride a tall and powerful-looking horse; 1635's 'Charles I at the Hunt' shows the king in a more relaxed (but still very regal) pose in front of his horse; and 'Triple Portrait of Charles I' shows Charles from three different angles and was commissioned in around 1635 to allow the Italian sculptor Bernini to produce a marble bust of the king.

Van Dyck's portraits of Charles I provided an opportunity for the king to emphasise his wealth, power and regal nature to the people. However, they didn't save him from being tried and executed for treason by representatives of the said people.

Answer: Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi is a rare example of a pre-20th century female artist to be highly respected and able to work professionally. She was born into an artistic family in Rome in the early 1590s and was the daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, a painter at both the French and English royal courts in the early 17th century. Artemisia's painting 'Susanna and the Elders' was completed when she was just 19 years of age and she became the first woman to be inducted into the influential Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. She also received international commissions and later joined her father at the English court.

Gentileschi largely focused on works depicting biblical, historical and mythological women. 'Judith Slaying Holofernes' (in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery) and 'Judith and her Maidservant' are just two examples.

Answer: Frans Hals

Dutch portrait artist Frans Hals is probably most famous for his 1624 work known as the 'Laughing Cavalier', although that title for it was invented when it was displayed at an exhibition in London in the 1870s. It depicts a wealthy-looking unknown man with an impressive moustache and a smiling face, who is not apparently actually laughing.

It forms part of the Wallace Collection at Hertford House in London. 'The Gypsy Girl' and 'Malle Bebbe' are two other well-known portraits by Hals who worked in the Dutch city of Haarlem until his death in 1666.

Answer: Caravaggio

'Boy Peeling Fruit' (c. 1592), 'The Taking of Christ' (c. 1602) and 'The Beheading of St. John the Baptist' (1608) are all notable works by the famous artist Caravaggio, who was an influential pioneer of the Baroque style. The latter painting is one of his greatest works in terms of both its quality and sheer size (it measures approximately 3.7 metres by 5 metres).

It was commissioned for St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta (where it has remained for over 400 years) in the period following Caravaggio's exile from Rome after killing a man in mysterious circumstances.

Answer: Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was a French artist who spent most of his career in Rome. Most of Poussin's paintings depict religious or mythological themes, but from the late 1640s until his death in 1665 he tended to produce more landscapes. His four works known as the 'The Four Seasons' that are in the collection of the Louvre in Paris (including 'Spring (The Earthly Paradise)') are examples of his landscape painting and date from 1660-64.

'Et in Arcadia Ego' is one of his most famous works and is also known as 'The Arcadian Shepherd'. It depicts a group of ancient shepherds clustered around a tomb. 'A Dance to the Music of Time' was commissioned from Poussin by the future Pope Clement IX. It shows four people dancing in a circle to music played by a personification of time. The four dancers are said to represent the seasons or stages of life from poverty to labour, riches, luxury and back to poverty. The painting gave its name to a series of 12 novels by Anthony Powell.

Answer: Rembrandt

Rembrandt van Rijn, commonly known by just his first name, was a Dutch artist who lived from 1606 to 1669. In addition to painting portraits (including numerous self-portraits) and religious scenes, he was also an innovator in the field of etching and printmaking. 'The Night Watch' (1642) is probably his best-known work and measures around 3.5 metres by 4.5 metres, despite having been substantially trimmed down when it was moved to a new home in Amsterdam's Town Hall in the early 18th century. The painting is actually titled 'Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq' (or 'The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'), but gained its somewhat snappier and more famous nickname because it was originally coated in a dark varnish that gave the erroneous impression that it depicted a night scene.

Rembrandt's 1633 work 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee' is also well-known, but for the wrong reasons - it went missing after being stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990.