Great British Art Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thomas Gainsborough

This large oil painting is nearly 2 metres tall and more than 1 metre wide. The titular subject of the painting faces the viewer, dressed in the garb of the century prior. It is believed that the boy is the son of the merchant for whom the painting was painted, who sold it when he fell on hard times. In 1921, "The Blue Boy" was bought by Henry Huntington and relocated to California.

Answer: William Hogarth

"The Gate of Calais" was fully fleshed out into a painting not long after Hogarth returned to England from France in 1748. Based on a sketch of the port at Calais, this oil painting features the titular gate in the background, with a chef carrying a cut of beef in the centre middleground.

A selection of soldiers and other characters are also seen, including Hogarth himself who appears to be working on the original sketch. The Tate Gallery acquired the painting in the 1950s.

Answer: Tracey Emin

Perhaps Emin's most famous and controversial work, "My Bed" is a physical installation centred around a messy, unmade bed strewn with, amongst other things, litter, dirtied clothing, and prophylactics. Emin herself said it was based on a difficult period of her life.

It was entered for the Turner Prize in 1999 but was unsuccessful. Nonetheless, "My Bed" was sold at auction in 2014 for more than £2 million.

Answer: Lucian Freud

Freud's "Girl with a Kitten" (1947) features a close up of Freud's then-wife Kathleen holding a kitten around the neck in her right hand. This surrealist piece debuted in London later on in 1947 and was also featured as part of Britain's pavilion at the 1954 Venice Biennale.

It was bequeathed to the Tate Gallery in 2006, having previously been owned by art collector Simon Sainsbury and, before that, Stephen Freud, Lucian's brother.

Answer: Damien Hirst

Quite simply, Hirst's piece is a tiger shark preserved within a glass case filled with formaldehyde. Due to being improperly preserved the first time, the shark, which was caught off the coast of Queensland, Australia, began to break down inside the case within the first couple of years of display.

The owner at the time, Charles Saatchi, then had the skin of the shark removed and placed over a mold instead, which Hirst felt detracted from the original look. When the artwork was on the verge of being sold to American philanthropist Steven Cohen in 2004, Hirst put forward a plan to replace the shark with a new one, to which Cohen agreed (and funded).

A second shark was then caught, and proper preservation techniques were employed right from the start.

Answer: J M W Turner

Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire" depicts the sombre towing of the HMS Temeraire, bound for London where it would be dismantled for scrap. The ship was a key vessel in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), and Turner's painting remains one of the most popular in Britain.

In April 2016, the Bank of England announced that both Turner and "The Fighting Temeraire" would appear on the first polymer £20 notes, superseding the paper design featuring economist Adam Smith, which first went into circulation in 2007.

Answer: Rachel Whiteread

Whiteread's 1993 Turner Prize-winning sculpture was a striking depiction of the inside of a Victorian terraced house. With all the other properties in the terrace having been vacated and demolished, preparations were made to have concrete poured inside the shell of the house before the external walls were removed, leaving a remarkable rendering of nineteenth- and twentieth-century domesticity.

The structure lasted just shy of three months before it too was torn down at the behest of the local council.

Answer: L S Lowry

Lowry's penchant for industrial scenes shows in many of his works, and "The Pond" is no different. Here, the chimneystacks and factories take a backseat, though, with the middleground of the painting taken up by the titular pond, upon which are numerous rowing boats. Moving into the foreground, the scene features rows of terraced housing and crowds of people going about their day.

Answer: Antony Gormley

Rather than being a sculpture on display in a gallery, Gormley's "Angel of the North" is clearly visible while driving along the A1 near Gateshead in the north-east of England. Stretching 20 metres into the air, the Angel is more plane-like than humanoid, with long, flat, outstretched arms.

The project took four years and cost very nearly £1 million, and has since become a veritable icon of British art and engineering.

Answer: John Constable

Quite possibly one of the most famous paintings in the country, Constable's "The Hay Wain" is a wonderful depiction of rural England. Set amongst a verdant landscape and backed by a cloud-filled sky, a horse-drawn cart trundles its way through a shallow river, with a small cottage sitting on the bank.

Originally given the name "Noon", the painting has had pride of place in London's National Gallery since receiving it in 1886.