The Louvre Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gericault

Théodore Géricault painted this when he was only twenty-seven and gave it the name "Scène de Naufrage", or "Shipwreck Scene" in English. It was based on the real life sinking of a ship called the Méduse, which ran aground on rocks near Madagascar in 1816.

Some survivors took to a raft which they had built although most of them died before being rescued. Gericault died only five years later, and the Louvre has owned the painting since then.

Answer: Bosch

This intriguing painting is part of of a tryptich, and is only a part of the original full sized painting. The middle part has been lost and the other wing of the tryptich, called "Death of the Miser", is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

The "Ship of Fools" shows a group of people on a ship, oblivious to their surroundings and to the man holding on to the boat and trying to get in. The painting is viewed as a comment on the lack of morals of the time, including those of the church. According to the Louvre's own website, the painting is also known as the "Satire of the Debauched Revelers".

Answer: Caravaggio

There are two versions of this painting, with the one in the Louvre being the later of the two. Both depict a young man who is having his palm read by a gypsy girl - she has beguiled him so much that he hasn't realised that she is removing a ring from his finger while holding his hand.

The earlier version is in Rome's Musei Capitolini. Also on display at the Louvre is Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin", painted around ten years later.

Answer: Ingres

The painting was commissioned by Napoleon's sister, queen of Naples, and is also known as "Une Odlaisque", or a woman of the harem. The subject of the painting is a naked woman with her back to the viewer, but with her head turned to gaze out of the painting. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French painter who studied under Jacques-Louis David.

Ingres was known for his portraits, which included Napoleon Bonaparte among his subjects.

Answer: Titian

This painting doesn't need much description, depicting a fashionably dressed young man with a glove on his left hand, while the other glove is held in the same hand. The subject hasn't been identified definitively, but his jewellery indicates he was wealthy.

The painting has been owned by two kings, Charles I of England and Louis IV of France. It has been at the Louvre since 1792. Titian was based in Venice and was adept at all the subjects he tackled during his long life (he lived to around 88 years of age). Apart from portraits, he created scenes from myth, the Bible and nature.

The Louvre has several of his works.

Answer: David

Jacques-Louis David was an interesting character in addition to being a skilled artist. He became heavily involved in the French Revolution and was a personal friend of Maximilien Robespierre. David painted the well known picture called the "Death of Marat", showing the revolutionary in his bath after being stabbed. Following Robespierre's fall from grace, David found himself in prison and allied himself with Napoleon when free again. Among the paintings he did of Napoleon are "Napoleon Crossing the Alps", of which there are several versions and the picture in the question, depicting the coronation of Napoleon.

The coronation took place in 1804 and David was commissioned personally by Napoleon to create the painting.

Answer: Vermeer

The Louvre has two of Vermeer's famous works - "The Lacemaker" and "The Astronomer", with the latter being the earlier by a year or so. The picture depicts a scientist at his desk with a hand on a globe, which shows the constellations and locations of the stars in the sky.

The Louvre acquired the painting in 1983 after the Rotshchild family, which had owned it since the 1880s, used it to pay inheritance tax. Johannes Vermeer died in his early forties and only thirty or so of his paintings survive.

The most famous, due to the novel and film based on it, is probably "Girl with a Pearl Earring", painted about 1665.

Answer: da Vinci

The "Mona Lisa" is not the only da Vinci painting in the Louvre. According to the museum's website, it has the largest collection of his paintings in the world plus several drawings. In 2019 it held an exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist's death. "Virgin of the Rocks" is one of two paintings with that title, which are very similar.

The one on display in the Louvre is believed to be the earlier of the two - the other version is in London's National Gallery.

Answer: Veronese

The painting depicts the scene of the wedding at which Jesus performed the first miracle recorded in the Bible, when He turned water into wine. Paolo Veronese worked in Venice and his works primarily display Biblical scenes or mythological stories. "The Wedding Feast at Cana" was commissioned by the monks of San Giorgio Maggiore, where it was displayed until Napoleon's army 'acquired' it in 1797.

The painting is very large, as specified by the monastery, at over 32 feet long and 20 feet high (around 10 metres by 7 metres).

Answer: Delacroix

The painting depicts an imaginary scene from the revolution of 1830, which saw the removal of King Charles X and the death throes of the French monarchy. The picture shows a young female revolutionary, clutching a rifle and bayonet in her left hand and the French flag in the other.

She is urging on the people and seems oblivious to the bodies at her feet. The Louvre has owned it since 1874. Among Eugène Delacroix's other works are portraits, including Chopin, scenes from mythology and many depicting horses.

The Louvre owns several of his paintings.