"The Dinner Party": Wing Two Quiz | Individual Artists

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Born (probably) to a pagan chief and his newly-baptized slave, St. Bridget of Ireland is included in "The Dinner Party" as a symbol of the reconciliation of goddess-worshiping Celts with patriarchal Christianity. One of Bridget's accomplishments was which of the following?

Answer: Founding Ireland's first Abbey

Bridget (also called Brigid or Bride) founded the Abbey of Kildare around 470 CE. Irish tradition maintains that St. Patrick baptized her mother and ordained Bridget as well.
As mentioned at the excellent website http://www.allsaintsbrookline.org/celtic/saints/brigid.html, much of the legend of Bridget the saint has become entwined with that of the Celtic goddess Brighid, patroness of the fire of wisdom, poets, and mothers. It's fascinating reading and well worth a look.

Each woman is represented at "The Dinner Party" with a painted china plate resting on a needlework runner. These traditionally "female" crafts, seen by Ms. Chicago as hitherto occupying secondary places in the art world, here take center stage. St. Bridget's plate and runner emphasize flames and flowers, appropriate for both the Celtic hearth-keeper goddess and the Catholic dairymaid-saint.

2. This Byzantine empress who lived c. 497-548 was a champion of women's rights.

Answer: Theodora

Empress Theodora rose from humble beginnings (her father was a bear trainer, and she was an actress and perhaps even a prostitute) to rule the Byzantine Empire jointly with her husband, Justinian. She encouraged religious and social tolerance, supported laws against forced prostitution, and was a patroness of architecture.

Theodora's plate is reddish-purple and green, and her runner is embroidered with Byzantine designs.

3. She called herself "The strong voice of Gandersheim". Writing in the second half of the eleventh century, this nun was also a poet, playwright, and Germany's first historian.

Answer: Hrosvitha

Among many other works, Hrosvitha wrote an epic poem about Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her "Dinner Party" plate departs from the bright colors of those around it; its brown and tan design suggests an acorn.

Of the incorrect answers, Marcella (325-410) founded the first Christian convent in Rome. She is also honored by a place setting in Wing Two of "The Dinner Party". Walladah Bint Mustakfi (c. 1001-1080) was a poet in Cordoba, Spain, and Zoe (c. 978-1050) was a strong-willed, manipulative Byzantine empress.

4. Trotula was a female physician who lived in Salerno, Italy in the eleventh century. One of her books was entitled "De Passionibus Mulierum Curandarum". In what area of medicine did Trotula specialize?

Answer: Obstetrics and Gynecology

"De Passionibus Mulierum Curandarum" translates as "On the Sufferings (sometimes translated as "Diseases") of Women". It was one of the first attempts in Western medicine to provide a scientific approach to pregnancy, childbirth, infertility, and that mysterious enigma, a woman's body.

Trotula's "Dinner Party" plate resembles a glazed Italian tile, with a stylized caduceus design.

5. Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was the wife of two kings and the mother of two more. She rode with her first husband to the Holy Land during the Second Crusade and was harshly criticized for it. Of which two countries was Eleanor queen?

Answer: France and England

Eleanor lived to be nearly eighty, bore ten children, and never stopped planning, managing, and involving herself in political intrigue. Her plate at "The Dinner Party" is one of the most striking of the 39. It resembles a fleur-de-lys for Eleanor's French origins, and rests on a medieval tapestry runner.

6. Hildegarde was one of the first women composers. She was also a nun, a scholar, a writer, and an artist. "The Dinner Party" states that her work "emphasized the relationship between human and divine". In what town (later added to Hildegarde's name) did she found a monastery and produce much of her work?

Answer: Bingen

Hildegarde von Bingen became a nun at a very young age but continued to write and compose all her long life. She founded the Bingen monastery in her fifties and even a second one across the Rhine. Hildegarde's music has quite deservedly received much attention in the past twenty or so years, and some CDs of her compositions rank among amazon.com's top three thousand.

Hildegarde's "Dinner Party" plate is colorful, with the upper "wings" of the butterfly motif quite different from the lower, suggesting the division of heaven and earth.

7. Petronilla de Meath represents the persecution of women from the 13th to the 17th centuries. What happened to Petronilla?

Answer: She was burned as a witch in Ireland

Petronilla was certainly guilty of something, but it was probably that she served the wrong mistress. Her employer, Dame Alice Kyteler, was known as "The Sorceress of Kilkenny". Dame Alice would doubtless have suffered the same fate as her maid, but her money and position enabled her to flee to England.

(from www.sacred-texts.com/pag/iwd/iwd03.htm, describing Petronilla's ordeal)
"The Bishop had her flogged six times, and under the repeated application of this form of torture she made the required confession of magical practices."
Petronilla was burned at the stake in 1324, becoming the first person executed for witchcraft in Ireland. Her "Dinner Party" plate features fire around a central flower.

It is unknown how many persons (men as well as women) died as a result of witch hunts, but modern estimates range from 40,000 to well over a million.

8. Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) was the daughter of the Duke of Ferrara and the wife of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Her thousands of letters, her political ambitions, and her patronage of the arts gave her the nickname "First Lady of the Renaissance".

Answer: True

Among the writers and artists who prospered under Isabella's patronage were Ariosto, Titian, and da Vinci.

Isabella's plate suggests both past and future...some of the designs are reminiscent of the medieval cloister from which women were symbolically emerging, while others look forward to the color and craft of the Renaissance.

9. A true Renaissance woman, she ruled England from 1558-1603. By refusing to marry, she kept the reins of power firmly in her own hands.

Answer: Elizabeth I

Elizabeth's plate at "The Dinner Party" is a stylized butterfly design in rich jewel colors, resting on a velvet, pearl-encrusted and richly embroidered runner.

10. Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), although handicapped by her sex, became famous in which of these fields?

Answer: Painting

(from www.artemisia-gentileschi.com)
"After her death, she drifted into obscurity, her works often attributed to her father or other artists. Art historian and expert on Artemisia, Mary D. Garrard notes that Artemisia "has suffered a scholarly neglect that is unthinkable for an artist of her calibre." Renewed and overdue interest in Artemisia in recent years has recognized her as a talented seventeenth-century painter and one of the world's greatest female artists."

Artemisia's plate, which is of modern appearance with an almost abstract butterfly motif, rests on a golden velvet runner.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at "The Dinner Party"'s Wing Two and its remarkable women.

Source: Author LilahDeDah

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

"The Dinner Party": Wing Two Trivia Quiz

Second quiz of three about Judy Chicago's feminist history mixed media creation "The Dinner Party". Wing Two covers the years 325-1678 AD. Having seen the artwork is not necessary in order to answer most of the questions.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>