Who Painted This Work? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian genius, highly skilled in an astonishing array of subjects. These included writing, painting, sculpting, architecture, maths, languages and many others. He was one amazing man. Springing from very humble beginnings, he rose to become one of the most recognised persons of the Renaissance era in history.

The Mona Lisa was painted by da Vinci some time between 1503 and 1506. Nobody knows who she really was, but the most commonly accepted version is that she was the wife of a successful Florentine merchant. This painting is considered the most famous in the world. Part of this is said to be because of the "enigmatic expression" on the subject's face. A million words have been written about that expression. Although this marks me as a Philistine perhaps, I actually very much dislike this work and the smirk on the subject's face. To me, she looks sly, sneaky and almost depraved.

Answer: Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt (1606-1669) was a famous painter from the Netherlands. He painted during the era of the Dutch Golden Age when that country was one of the most successful and flourishing in the world, in trade, the arts and science. Not only was Rembrandt a successful artist in his own right, he also taught his skills to many other important Dutch painters. His works, particularly his excellent portraits, capture people as they actually were. He doesn't distort them with idealised touch-ups, but makes them come to life with warts, large noses, wrinkles and all, long after they have passed away and turned into dust. In his own honest self-portraits, of which he did many over his lifetime, we get to see that passing of time honestly recorded on canvas as well.

This particular painting (1661) is called "Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul". Given that he painted approximately ninety self portraits over time, faithful representations of himself in a type of long term visual diary, this painting could possibly have been called "Self Portrait of Rembrandt Imagining He looks like the Apostle Paul, but Still Looking Exactly Like Himself Instead". Perhaps, though, we should be thankful that he didn't decide to do a self-portrait of himself looking like Jesus. The lovely Rembrandt, you see, had rather a pronounced bulbous nose.

Answer: John Constable

John Constable lived from 1776 until 1837. He would say of the beautiful countryside around him, "the sound of water escaping from mill dams etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things", and this love shines through over and over again in his beautiful landscapes. As he didn't become famous in his native land until late in his life, he often had to take on commissioned portrait painting to make ends meet, an area of work he intensely disliked.

The painting I love most of this fine artist's work is "Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds". Constable painted this in 1823. The two figures included at the bottom left of this work are of the Bishop himself and his good wife, both kind enough to let Constable work from the security and solitude of their garden which faced this great cathedral. This painting is a beautiful combination of man made grandeur surrounded by the serenity and grace of nature.

Answer: Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), in his relatively short life, painted some lovely works, most of which centred on the family and household environment. He was amazingly skilled at painting light falling onto his subjects. Personally, he was a very private man about whom little is really known. This earned him the nickname of The Sphinx. In reality one imagines he was probably just occupied in his work and in helping rear his very large brood of children. He had fifteen of these. Never considered particularly successful in his own lifetime, he died in debt. Since that time, however, he has become known as one of the greatest artists of the age.

"Girl With A Pearl Earring" is an exquisite work, and is often referred to as the Dutch Mona Lisa. It captures light shining on the face of a lovely young girl who looks towards the viewer with trust and innocence. There is a timelessness about this work that could blend in with any era or any culture. To me she symbolises a lovely rosebud, or the beauty of youth, ready to burst into full bloom. Yet we long to keep her just the way she is, untouched, chaste, pure and as yet untouched by knowledge. Her beauty lies in her innocence.

Answer: Mary Cassatt

American artist Mary Cassatt lived from 1844 until 1926. Most of her professional early adult life was spent in France. This enabled her to be exposed to the influence of the Impressionists there, a form of painting that is reflected in her many beautiful first works. She returned to the States at one stage, but when her work failed to make an impression there, she soon made her way back to Europe again. As she matured as an artist, her style became uniquely her own. We have been left with many exquisite works by this artist that testify to this fact.

"Tea" was painted in 1880. It portrays two women in the genteel art of the afternoon tea, part of the daily ritual of the successful middle class of the time. The poise of the hands holding the teacup and saucer in this painting is perfection itself, as is the saucy bonnet indicating that it is the caller who is doing so. I love this painting because it captures a gentler, less hurried age a million miles away from the stresses and perpetual haste of the modern world today.

Answer: Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in France in 1841. He began his working career in a porcelain factory where he was selected to paint the designs on the delicate products there. In 1862, he finally enrolled in art school where he learned to perfect his skill, after an initial struggle to even afford the paints he needed for his studies. It would be another ten years before he began to be recognised for his artistic abilities in France. In 1890 he married one of the models who sat for many of his works, and, in the years to come, scenes of his family life were a well known feature in his paintings. Badly disabled with chronic arthritis towards the end of his life, Renoir, with a paintbrush strapped to his twisted fingers, painted right up until that life ended in 1919.

"Girl With a Hoop" was produced in 1885. When Renoir painted this lovely work he was growing tired of the fleeting quality and transient essence of the Impressionist style. In this painting, the emergence of his firmer, more definite style can be seen. This work captures beautifully the impatience of a young girl who longs to be released so that she can continue playing with her hoop. One can almost see her tapping her foot with youthful impatience.

Answer: Camille Pissaro

The Danish-French painter Camille Pissarro lived from 1830 until 1902. His works belong to both the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist periods. He was somewhat of a shock to his fellow artists for portraying the subjects in his work with warts and all, using very natural settings, and with no hint of grandeur whatsoever. We are all the luckier for it. Because his father insisted that Camille become a cargo clerk in the family business, where he only had time to practise his drawings after work, Camille more or less ran away from home when he turned twenty-one so that he could follow his true calling in peace.

"Le boulevard Montmartre un matin d'hiver" translates to "The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning". It was painted in 1897 and portrays the view from his lodgings at a hotel in the centre of Paris. He painted several of these views from the same spot, all recorded with a lovely, misty, dream-like quality to them, and capturing perfectly his beautiful snapshots of time.

Answer: Edgar Degas

French-born Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was an artist who worked in a number of different fields, but he is most remembered for his fine paintings of dancers, with over half his output centred around this means of artistic expression. History has also credited Degas with the founding of Impressionism, an honour he heartily disliked and vigorously rejected. He thought of his work as realism instead. In the latter part of his life he moved more towards photography as a means of depicting mood and expression, and particularly enjoyed playing with the effect of lamplight upon his subjects. Sadly, this genius of many forms of artwork went almost completely blind towards the close of his life, and spent his last few years wandering helplessly though the streets of his beloved Paris.

"A Cotton Office in New Orleans" depicts a moment in time when his family's business went bankrupt. That is not why it is chosen for this quiz however. It is because this work, perhaps more than any other, is an outraged cry by Degas against being labelled an Impressionist. Its clarity and crispness, indeed, almost approaches photographic quality instead. It also captures the exclusiveness of the male business domain perfectly, where men could still be men, rulers of their kingdom, without being pestered by the ever growing movement of female equality.

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh lived from 1853 until 1890 when he died from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This Dutch post-Impressionist painter suffered for years from extremely disabling bouts of depression and mental ill health. His degree of agony of mind can often be seen reflected in his works. Many of these are tortured, disturbed and disjointed. Others, though, reflect a startling clarity and unique approach to art that forever draw the eye and mind in perplexed admiration.

"The Bedroom", painted in 1888, was one of a group of paintings he did of his room, during his sojourn in France. This one is the third version of the one perspective he painted. It indicates a clearer state of mind than the previous two, although all are of the same subject. It's as though whatever particular demons were torturing this sad genius at that time were finally being sorted out to his satisfaction. It has a serenity to it that the others lack.

Answer: Georges Seurat

Post-impressionist Georges Seurat (1859-1891) had such a very short life time in which to produce his lovely and unusual works. Also considered one of the neo-impressionists, it was for his introduction of the art of pointillism that he is most well known. This is a technique that combines the use of very small dots of pure colour to form images. It is a style that produces a startling clarity and intensity to the works produced that is almost three dimensional in its effect.

Of the ten paintings covered in this quiz, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (1884) is my favourite. I love its subject matter, the era it portrays, its perspective, and its humour. There is always something new to be found in this work, no matter how many times it is viewed.