Your Art Gallery: Still Life Trivia Game | Art

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The first exhibit in the Still Life room is "Basket of Fruit", painted sometime around 1599. Who is the Italian artist, a master from the early Baroque era?

Answer: Caravaggio

Born Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 1571 in Milan, he is today generally known simply as Caravaggio. Although he had only a short life, dying aged just 38 in 1610, he painted prolifically in Milan, Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily. He had established his reputation in Rome when, in 1606 the Pope issued a death warrant for him following an accident in which another man died. His influence on the Baroque school of painter who followed was profound and one 20th Century commentator described his work as "the beginning of modern painting".

Caravaggio's most famous works include "The Calling of Saint Matthew" (which hangs in the Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome), "David with the head of Goliath" (Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome) and "The Entombment of Christ" (Pinacoteca Vaticana).

Our pictured work is part of the collection at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana gallery in Milan's history library.

2. Painted around 1901, "Pyramid of Skulls" (pictured) is one of this artist's Still Life paintings from what is known as his "Final Period". Who is this Post-Impressionist who painted portraits, landscapes and genre scenes as well as still lifes?

Answer: Paul C�zanne

Born in France in 1839, we have seen Paul C�zanne's work earlier, in the landscapes room. From 1890 until his death in 1906, the artist was suffering from diabetes, dealing with the death of his mother and becoming estranged from his wife, with the result that he became a virtual recluse. The skulls, which featured in more than one of his paintings during this period, can still be seen today at his studio, now a museum.

Still life paintings from Cezanne's earlier periods include "The Black Marble Clock" (now part of a private collection in Berlin), "Still Life with an Open Drawer" (Mus�e d'Orsay), "The Basket of Apples" (Art Institute of Chicago) and "Still Life with Cherub" (Courtauld Institute Galleries, London).

Our featured work is currently part of a private collection in Switzerland.

3. "Small Bouquet of Flowers in a Clay Pot" is probably one of the most famous of all still life paintings. Painting it in 1599, who is the Flemish artist?

Answer: Jan Bruegel the Elder

Born in 1568 in Brussels, Belgium, Jan Brueghel the Elder is the son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, the brother of Pieter Brueghel the Younger and the father of Jan Brueghel the Younger. Because of the number of floral still life paintings that he produced, he is sometimes called "The Flower Brueghel" to differentiate him from the other artists in the family.

Like the rest of his family, Jan the Elder also painted landscapes, although he is not as well-known for his genre paintings of peasant scenes as his father.
Other notable still life works by Jan Brugel the Elder include "Bouquet" (which can be seen at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich), "Bouquet of Flowers" (N�rodn� Galerie, Prague) and "Still-Life with Garland of Flowers and Golden Tazza" (Mus�es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels).

Our featured painting is on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna, Austria.

4. Painted in 1902, "Still Life with Exotic Birds" is the work of another Post-Impressionist. Who is this artist who was an important painter in the Symbolist movement?

Answer: Paul Gauguin

Eug�ne Henri Paul Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848. Little appreciated during his lifetime, his bold experimentation with color clearly marked his work apart from the dominant Impressionist of the time.

His early works are mostly portraits and landscapes, but over time he painted an increasing number of still lifes too. These include "Still Life with Profile of Laval" (from 1886, which hangs in the Indianapolis Museum of Art), "Still-Life with Fruit and Lemons" (Museum Langmatt in Baden, Switzerland) and, from his time living in Tahiti, "Still-Life with Japanese Woodcut" (Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran).

Our featured work, painted the year before the artist's death in 1903, is part of the collection in Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

5. This 1643 work, "Still Life with Lobster" features a wide variety of items. Who was this artist, a leading still life painter of the Flemish Baroque school?

Answer: Jan Davidsz de Heem

Jan Davidszoon de Heem was born in Utrecht, now the capital and largest city in the province of the same name in central Netherlands. Considered one of the greatest painters of his time, he even managed to incorporate royal portraits into his still life work by collaborating with other great artists of the time: for example, in "Flower Garland with Portrait of William III of Orange, aged 10" which now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, de Heem added the floral border to a portrait painted by Jan Vermeer van Utrecht.

Our featured work is now part of the Wallace Collection in London.

6. This 1881 painting, "Still Life with Fruit", is the work of one of the leading Impressionist artists. Who is this prolific painter, whose works can be seen in galleries around the world?

Answer: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (normally known just as Auguste Renoir) was born in in 1841 in the city of Limoges, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department in west-central France. Notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, Renoir's paintings often depict people in intimate or candid position, the female nude being a favorite subject of his.

Although he is best known for his quasi-portraits and landscapes, one of Renoir's best-known paintings is a still life, "Still Life with Large Flower Vase", an 1866 oil that hangs in the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Our featured work is part of the collection on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

7. This 1812 painting demonstrates that Still Life art is not restricted to fruit and flowers. Which Spanish master painted "Plucked Turkey"?

Answer: Francisco Goya

Born in 1746 in Arag�n in northeastern Spain, Francisco Goya was one of the last of the Spanish "Old Masters".

He is, perhaps, best-remembered for his war paintings of the 1810s and the so-called "Black Paintings" of his final years; even Goya's still life works tend to border on the macabre side of the genre. Other examples are "Dead Birds" which can be seen in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, "Still-Life with Three Salmon Steaks", which is part of the Oskar Reinhart Collection ("Am Romerholz") in Winterthur, Switzerland and "Still-Life: A Butcher's Counter" (The Louvre in Paris).

Our featured work hangs in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

8. Painted in 1878, "Still Life with Chrysanthemums" is not typical of this artist's work. Who is this artist, who you would associate more with paintings documenting the changing French countryside?

Answer: Claude Monet

Born in Paris in 1840, we have already seen work by the father of Impressionism, Claude Monet, elsewhere in our virtual gallery.

Although particularly noted for his paintings of people and landscapes, or his famous water-lily scenes, Monet painted numerous still lifes too. Other examples include the famous "Sunflowers", which can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and "Still Life with Anemones", which is in a private Paris collection.

Our featured painting is part of the collection at the Mus�e d'Orsay in Paris.

9. The pictured work is called "Still life: Sliced Salmon, Lemon and Three Vessels". Who is the artist, recognized as the greatest Spanish still life painter of the 18th Century?

Answer: Luis Mel�ndez

Born Luis Egidio Mel�ndez de Rivera Durazo y Santo Padre in Naples, Italy in 1716, he came from a family of artists and spent most of his life in Spain. His father was the King's Painter of Miniatures, and Luis spent his early years painting royal portraits before concentrating on still life compositions.

Other examples of his work include "Ham and Eggs" which hangs in the Prado in Madrid, "Still Life with Melon and Pears" (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and "Still Life with Figs and Bread" (National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.).

10. "Still life, Lilac Bouquet" was painted in 1883 by another of the great French artists of the era. Who is this artist who is better known as one of the first 19th-Century artists to paint modern life?

Answer: Edouard Manet

Born in Paris in 1832, we first met Edouard Manet in the portrait room of our virtual gallery.

Best known for masterpieces such as "The Luncheon on the Grass", Manet also produced numerous still life including "Still Life: Peonies in Vase" and "White Peony", both of which hang in the Mus�e d'Orsay in Paris and, as a contrast to flowers, "Still Life with Salmon", which can be seen at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.

Our featured work can be seen at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

Source: Author EnglishJedi

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

Your Art Gallery: Still Life Trivia Quiz

Welcome to your own private art gallery. In the third room are still life paintings by some of the world's great artists. Can you identify the artist by the style?

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