How Do I Look? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sir Anthony van Dyck

Born in 1599 in Antwerp, then in the Spanish Netherlands but now in Belgium, Anthony van Dyck would go on to become the leading painter at the court of the English king Charles I. Although he also painted biblical and mythological scenes, it is his portraits for which he is best known. The Van Dyck beard is named for him.

Sir Anthony van Dyck's "Youthful Self-Portrait" is part of the collection at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria.

Answer: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841 in the city of Limoges in central France. Suffering from rheumatoid arthritis since the late 1890s, his hands became progressively deformed during his last 20 years but he continued painting regularly throughout that period. Reports that the paintbrush had to be strapped to his fingers are incorrect, but he did need an assistant to place the brush in his hand. He died aged 78 in 1919.

Our featured work, which is now part of a private collection, was only the second "Self-Portrait" painted an artist whose body of work contains numerous portraits and genre paintings.

Answer: Hans Holbein the Younger

Born in 1497 in the city of Augsburg, then within the Holy Roman Empire (now in Bavaria in southern Germany), Hans Holbein the Younger was the son of the Late Gothic school painter of the same name. His career as an artist began with murals and religious works but he travelled extensively through Italy, France and the Netherlands before going to England in 1526. Originally sponsored by Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell, Holbein became the official painter for King Henry VIII and his family, and his numerous portraits of both the royal family and the nobles of the time provide a pictorial who's who of the period.

Holbein's 1542 self-portrait is the only such painting that he ever produced. It is now part of the collection at the 'Galleria degli Uffizi' in Florence, Italy.

Answer: Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in 1606 in Leiden in the Dutch Republic, and no collection of self-portraits would be complete without one example from the artist who painted himself so often and so dramatically. In his middle years, Rembrandt painted grand group scenes (such as "The Night Watch") but in his final period his works became more intimate. That period still included biblical scenes, but even those became portrait-like (eg. his "James the Apostle" painted in 1661 or "(The Jewish Bride" from 1666). Between 1652 and his death in 1669, he also painted himself 15 times.

The life-sized (44"x33") "Self-Portrait at the Easel" is part of the collection at The Louvre in Paris.

Answer: Edouard Manet

Born in Paris in 1832, Édouard Manet stunned the art community with some of his early masterpieces (eg. "The Luncheon on the Grass" and "Olympia", both from 1863). In the 20-year painting career that followed those early successes, Manet became known as "The Father of Modernism". There are numerous portraits amongst his 430 oil paintings, 89 pastels and more than 400 watercolours and drawings. He is, though, perhaps best-known for his war paintings (notably scenes from the American Civil War), his paintings of social activities, particularly horse racing, and for his café scenes and works depicting street life in Paris.

"Self-Portrait with Palette" is part of the Steven A. Cohen collection, one of the world's fastest-growing private art collections. Cohen is building a private museum on his property in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Answer: Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848. He is credited with hugely influencing many of the art movements and artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with his exaggerated body proportions, geometric designs and stark contrasts. His 1889 painting "The Yellow Christ" (displayed at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York) is considered one of the most important works in the Symbolist movement, and it is this work that is featured in the background of our featured self portrait.

Gauguin painted at least ten self portraits. The earliest dates to 1875 and can be seen at the Fogg Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The last of them, painted in 1896, is part of the collection at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris (as is our featured work).

Answer: Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born in 1844 in the Pittsburgh suburb previously called Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. She lived most of her working life in France, where she was friends with many of the leading Impressionist, particularly Edgar Degas. Virtually all of Cassatt's paintings depict people, either as portraits or as genre works with particular emphasis on mothers and children.

Our featured work, "Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait", can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery in the heart of Washington DC.

Answer: George Stubbs

Born in Liverpool in 1724, George Stubbs studied human anatomy at York County Hospital and some of his earliest artwork illustrates a 1751 textbook on midwifery. It was not to be for painting the human form that he became famous, though, but for his depiction of numerous animals, particularly horses. His well-known paintings include such diverse creatures such as a kangaroo, a dingo, tigers and dogs, and many of his later works feature lions attacking horses. His most famous work, though, is "Whistlejacket", a 1762 painting of a prancing horse that is now part of the collection at the National Gallery in London.

Stubbs did paint other portraits: "The Milbanke and Melbourne Families" hangs in the National Gallery, "Mother and Child" can be seen in the Tate, and "Soldiers of the 10th Light Dragoons" and "Sir Sidney Medows" are both part of the Royal Collection.

Answer: William Hogarth

Born in London in 1697, William Hogarth was a pictorial satirist, a social critic and an editorial cartoonist as well as one of the great painters of the early-mid 18th century. Although he is probably best-known for his industrial scenes and his depiction of the London street life of the period, he was also one of the leading portrait painters of his era. The most famous of these portraits is that of the actor David Garrick as Richard III (Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool).

"The Painter and his Pug" is part of the collection at the Tate in London.

Answer: Eugène Delacroix

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was born in 1798 in Marseilles in the south of France. Influenced by the Greek War of Independence, "Massacre at Chios" (painted in 1824 and now in the Louvre) was an early work that led to critical acclaim. He was at his height by 1830, when he produced his most famous work, "Liberty Leading the People". A trip to North Africa in 1832 influenced him greatly, and scenes of life and the people of Tangiers was a theme he would return to throughout the rest of his life.

Delacroix painted his first of numerous self portraits in 1837. In 1838 he painted both Frederic Chopin and George Sand, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Our featured self portrait is now part of the collection at the Uffizi in Florence.