Sculpture I: Prehistory to Rodin Multiple Choice Quiz | Humanities

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1. One of the earliest known sculptures is a small limestone figure found at a Paleolithic site in Austria in 1908. Dated about 30,000-25,000 BCE, the figure is thought to represent a goddess, perhaps of fertility or of Earth itself. By what name is this figure known?

Answer: Venus of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf is a not-quite five-inch, faceless statuette of an obese woman. The usage and symbolism of the figure can only be theorized, but the most common opinion is that the Venus is meant to represent the life-giving force of women and/or the Earth itself.

2. By the time the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti was created in 1343 BCE, Egyptian sculpture had been in existence for thousands of years. What was the primary function of sculpture in ancient Egypt?

Answer: Religious

Although Egyptian sculpture is certainly both decorative and historic, and creating it provided work for centuries of sculptors and stoneworkers, religion and the afterlife was always central. The Amarna period (1365-1345 BCE) saw King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti changing the forms of Egyptian worship, and sculpture followed, becoming less rigid, more personal ... but still strongly identified as sacred.

The famous Nefertiti bust is located in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, Germany: Egypt has requested its return.

3. In 1974 workers digging a well uncovered the first glimpse in more than 2,200 years of a great artistic and historical treasure. Archeological excavations of the site revealed not one sculpture, but about 7,000 life-size terra cotta figures; soldiers, commanders, horses and chariots, each one with a unique quality. Where is the tomb this sculptured army has been silently guarding for more than two millennia?

Answer: Xi'an

These are the famous "terra cotta warriors" created by the order of Qin Shi Huang (260 BC-210 BC), king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BC to 221 BC. From 221 BC to 210 BC he was the first emperor to rule a unified China.

Xi'an marks the eastern end of the Silk Road (which also passes through Samarkand) and has been the capital of 13 dynasties. Today it is the capital of Shaanxi province, the largest city in north-western China.

The warriors were buried in battle formation near the emperor's tomb, about 40 km to the east of the city's suburbs, apparently to protect him in the afterlife.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army)

Tikal, in Guatemala, was the largest Mayan city of the Classic Period. It also boasts a great statue of the city's greatest king, Ah-Cacaw, on the apex of the Temple of the Great Jaguar.

Samarkand, the second-largest city in Uzbekistan, is as old as Babylon and has been ruled at times by Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Among its many ancient treasures is the jade gravestone of Tamerlane.

Luxor is in southern ("Upper") Egypt and the site of the ancient city the Greeks renamed Thebes. Here are the ruins of many great monuments, temples and tombs and the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Today it is a popular base for Nile cruises.

4. The Greek geniuses Phidias (active c.493-c.430 BCE), Polykleitos (active c.450-c.420 BCE), and Praxiteles (400-330 BCE) abandoned the centuries-old sculptural tradition that limited figures to a stiff, strictly frontal view. Which of the following terms is strongly associated with Greek sculpture in the High and Late Classic periods?

Answer: Contrapposto

Contrapposto is the placement of a sculptural figure such that its hips and legs are turned in a different direction from that of the shoulders and head. This technique creates both realism and tension in the figure.

A kouros is an older (before the 5th century BCE) Greek sculptural form. It represents a young male facing forward without the use of contrapposto.
A maquette is a smaller, usually preliminary, model of a larger sculpture.
Trompe l'oeil, or "fool the eye", is a painting term.

5. Laoco�n was an early 1st century Christian religious sculptor.

Answer: False

In mythology, Laoco�n was a Trojan priest who warned against bringing that Greek gift horse inside the city walls. He and his two sons were strangled by giant serpents. The magnificent first-century BCE Laoco�n statue by Hagesandros, Athenodoros and Polydoros of Rhodes can be seen in the Vatican museum.

6. Which part of Vatican City's famous bronze statue of St. Peter Enthroned (5th or 13th century) has been worn away by the kisses of the faithful over the centuries?

Answer: Foot

Art historians are unsure if the venerated bronze is from the 5th century or the work of late 13th century Italian sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio. The statue is only one of thousands of Vatican City art treasures.

7. In February 1978, a magnificent sculptured disk was rediscovered in Mexico. The subject was the goddess Coyolxauhqui, murdered and dismembered by her brother, the war god Huitzilopoxtli. The disk is thought to date from 1325-1521. How had it been lost for hundreds of years?

Answer: It was buried underground in the main plaza of Tenochtitl�n

Because of their pagan nature, many of the Aztec Empire's artworks were destroyed by the conquering Spaniards. The Coyolxauhqui disk was buried in the plaza for hundreds of years, probably during the destruction of Tenochtitl�n's Great Pyramid, and lay hidden until it was discovered by workers from the Mexico City Electric Light Company.

To see the eight-ton disk, visit the Museo del Templo Mayor (Museum of the Great Temple) in Mexico City, or http://saulhernandez.info/images/mexico/TemploMayorCoyolxauhqui.jpg

8. Which of the following Italian artists did NOT exert a strong influence on Michelangelo?

Answer: Titian

Ghiberti, Masaccio (1401-1428) and Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) were all Florentines, as was Michelangelo, who was taught by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Ghirlandaio had studied Masaccio's techniques, as did Michelangelo. Both Masaccio and Ghirlandaio worked in fresco; without them, there would probably be no Michelangelo Sistine chapel frescoes today. Michelangelo, though, wanted to be a sculptor. Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1444) was a goldsmith and sculptor who designed the Baptistery doors in Florence, famously referred to by Michelangelo as the "Gates of Paradise".

Titian (c.1487-1576) was a Venetian Renaissance painter.

9. Giovanni Lorenzo (Gianlorenzo) Bernini thrived (creatively and financially) under the patronage of Pope Urban VIII and so might be said to be responsible for "urban renewal" in 16th century Rome. His sculptures are acknowledged to be the main reason Rome is known as "the city of fountains". For which of these notable works was Bernini NOT responsible?

Answer: Trevi Fountain

Bernini had actually built an earlier fountain at the site where the famous Trevi Fountain is now, but it was torn down in the 18th century and replaced with Nicola Salvi's Trevi.

10. Auguste Rodin, born in 1840, is thought by many to have been the last great realistic sculptor. After Rodin, sculpture became increasingly more abstract. Rodin's long career (he died in 1917) produced literally thousands of sculptures in marble, bronze, terracotta, plaster and other media. Some of Rodin's works met with mixed reviews when first exhibited. Which of the following is NOT a once-controversial work by Rodin?

Answer: The Last Judgment

Rodin's "Gates of Hell" show the influence of Michelangelo's controversial "Last Judgment", but Rodin never created a piece with that name.

I hope you have enjoyed this very basic look at the history of sculpture and will be inspired to discover more.

Source: Author LilahDeDah

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Sculpture I: Prehistory to Rodin Quiz

A brief overview of the human form in sculpture from its earliest beginnings to the dawn of Modernism.

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