The Art Bible - The Old Testament Quiz

Answer: God and Adam

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was one of the greatest artists in the Italian Renaissance. He considered himself to be a sculptor, and some of his sculptures are indeed world famous - for instance his "David". But although Michelangelo didn't feel himself a (good) painter, his frescos for the Sistine Chapel are very famous too.
On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Michelangelo painted nine scenes from the book of Genesis. The fourth division of the ceiling contains the "Creation of Adam", with the scene I've mentioned in the question. Adam, a handsome young man (fully nude) lies reclining, and points his left hand to the other character. God, an elderly bearded man in a pink-purple robe, is hovering towards Adam, pointing his right hand out. The index fingers of both hands almost touch.
Another division of the ceiling contains "The Drunkenness of Noah". In this painting, the nude Noah has fallen asleep after enjoying too much of the just harvested wine. His sons Ham and Japheth walk backwards towards him (in order not to observe his nakedness) and cover him with a drape.
Jonah and Zechariah are two of the seven prophets Michelangelo depicted at the walls, just at the edge of the ceiling. The others are Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Jeremiah.
Michelangelo's painting "Leda and the Swan" is based upon Greek myth and was not inspired by the Bible.

Answer: Babel

Bruegel (1525-1569) was the patriarch of a Flemish artistic family. He was the son-in-law to the painters Pieter Coecke Van Aelst and Mayken Verhulst. Pieter Bruegel the Elder had two painting sons: Pieter the Younger and (the more inspired) Jan the Elder. Jan the Elder in turn had two sons and a daughter. While Jan's sons Ambrosius and Jan the Younger took up painting, Jan's daughter Anna married another painter (David Teniers the Younger). And Jan the Younger's sons too became painters: Jan Pieter, Abraham and Jan Baptist all specialised in painting flowers.
But of course you want to know about the painting I described. The genealogy is only supplementary information. Genesis 11:1-9 describes this incident: the few people who dwelled on earth, decided to design a tower that would reach into heaven. But God wasn't amused: He thought this undertaking showed only the haughtiness of mankind, and He punished their pride by confusing their language and by scattering people all around the world. The building site of the infamous tower would hence be known as Babel, which is the Hebrew word for confusion.
New York, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai (all places equipped with one or more skyscrapers, and having had at least once the tallest building on earth) are never mentioned in the Bible.

Answer: Abraham

These doors to the Florentine Baptistery are named "The Gates of Paradise" and depict ten Old-Testament scenes. The best known is arguably "The Sacrifice of Abraham", which I've described in the question.
The saddled horse, the servant tending the horse, and the farmer harvesting the grain have no role whatsoever in this particular scene - Ghiberti happened to find some remaining space and decided to refer here to traditional occupations, maybe also to the professions held by Cain and Abel.
The LORD had asked Abraham to go into Moriah and sacrifice his son Isaac. At the last moment, an angel of the LORD stopped Abraham, and a ram came out of the thickets in order to serve as a burnt offering.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) was an early Italian Renaissance artist. Ghiberti won a competition in 1401 to decorate a set of doors of the Baptistery (now situated on the North entrance). In 1427 he started working on the East doors, named "The Gates of Paradise".
The story of the sacrifice of Abraham can be found in Genesis 22:1-14. At the end of this same chapter we find the names of Nahor, Aram and Bethuel, all relatives of Abraham.

Answer: Potiphar

The painting described in the question is "Joseph and Potiphar's wife", and refers to Genesis 39:7-13. In the terms of the King James Version: "And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." (Oh, what wondrous language).
Because Potiphar's wife did not get what she wanted, she falsely accused Joseph of trying to rape her, and Joseph was sent to prison. But later on this proved to help Joseph advance on the social ladder: he interpreted dreams and became a trusted advisor to the Pharaoh.
The red herrings mentioned here are sons of Judah and Shuah, as mentioned in Genesis 38. Er and Onan were consecutive husbands to Tamar, but died soon after the marriage. Tamar was then betrothed to Shelah.
Tintoretto was the nickname of Iacopo Robusti (1518-1594), a prolific Venetian painter.

Answer: Moses

Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674) was a French Baroque painter, best known for his triple portrait of Cardinal Richelieu.
De Champaigne made this painting around 1650. It is named "Moses with the Ten Commandments".
While de Champaigne does not commit the error of depicting Moses with tiny horns (due to a false translation), one could say he renders a too young Moses. Judging from the painting, I would say Moses was in his late twenties or early thirties. But the Bible states Moses died at the end of the forty years in the desert, aged one hundred and twenty years - so he should have been eighty when crossing the Red Sea and many years older when he received the Ten Commandments. Of course numbers and ages in the Bible are not always to be taken literally: many times these numbers and ages have some symbolic value.
Joshua was the commander of the Israelites when they entered Canaan, the promised land. Gideon was a Judge who fought against the Midianites, and Isaiah was one of the major Prophets.

Answer: The Golden Calf

Out of the four options given here, only the Golden Calf is mentioned in the Bible.
The man coming down from the mountain is of course Moses, who returns from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. The man in the white tunic is his brother Aaron, who decided to make a statue of a young bull with the gold used in the jewellery the Israelites wore. Aaron has done so in order to calm down a possible mutiny. Moses was up on the mountain so long that the people muttered (according to the King James Version) "for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him." (Exodus 32:1)
Alas, Aaron sinned and led the people into sin. For the Commandments given to Moses state: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Exodus 20:3-5).
Poussin (1594-1665) was a French Baroque painter.
The Golden Palm is the most important award at the movie festival in Cannes. Likewise, the movie festival in Berlin awards the Golden Bear and the movie festival in Venice crowns the Golden Lion.

Answer: Balaam

Rembrandt's painting is titled "Balaam and His Donkey", also known as "Balaam and the Angel". Balaam was living in Mesopotamia, when Balak, king of the Moabites, asked him to come and curse the Israelites. At first Balaam refused to go with Balak (the son of Zippor), but eventually he gave in and set out with princes of Moab.
Then an angel of the LORD crossed their path. Only Balaam's donkey saw the angel drawing his sword, and the donkey left the road to cross a vineyard. Balaam hit the animal with a staff. A bit further, the donkey saw the angel again and crushed Balaam to a wall - and was once again punished with the staff. On the third occasion, the donkey could not evade the angel and knelt down. When Balaam hit it for the third time, the donkey started talking back to him - and finally the angel revealed himself to Balaam. Rembrandt depicted this last incident.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch Baroque painter who left us several scenes from the Old Testament.
As you can find out in Numbers 22, Zippor was the father of Balak, the king of the Moabites. Baal was their principal deity. Beor and his wife Pethor were Balaam's parents.

Answer: Solomon

The title of the painting reveals the answer to this question: it's "The Judgment of Solomon". The story is found in First Kings 3:16-28. Two women bore a son within three days of each other. But soon one of the sons died (perhaps from sudden infant death syndrome), and the two mothers quarrelled over who had borne the living son. The case was brought before King Solomon. And here I'll quote the King James Version starting from verse 23: "Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof."
It was quite a remarkable judgment, where Solomon completely relied on the love of the true mother for her child as well as on the guidance of the LORD.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) was a Venetian Rococo painter. His sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo would also become painters, but less famous.
Solomon was the third king of all twelve tribes of Israel, after Saul and David. Ahab was one of his successors, but only ruled the northern part (ten tribes), where the tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the Kingdom of Judah.

Answer: Daniel in the Lion's Den

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was an Antwerp painter and diplomat who left us about 2,000 works.
In the painting I describe, eight or nine lions and lionesses seem to be quite hungry. And yet they don't seem to notice Daniel, who's praying to the LORD.
Daniel 6 describes how Daniel has been chosen by the Persian King Darius as his principal advisor, much to the discontent of the other advisors. After all, Daniel was a mere foreigner, and of a different religion too. So the neglected advisors suggested to Darius a decree that anyone praying to any deity or man but Darius, should be put into the lion's den. Daniel continued praying to the LORD every day, as he was used to. Darius had him locked in the lion's den, but the lions didn't hurt him - because the LORD had sent an angel to protect Daniel.
According to the apocryphal chapter Daniel 14 (which doesn't make part of the Old Testament in the Protestant or Jewish tradition), Daniel landed in the lion's den for slaying a dragon and exposing the idolatry of the Persians.
"The Tyger" is a poem by William Blake. Blake also illustrated his poem.
"What's New, Pussycat?" is a song title by Tom Jones. I haven't found any painting on canvas to accompany this song, but one of the photos taken to illustrate the cover was quite remarkable (although "children not allowed").
"A Leopard Never Changes Its Spots" is a classical English proverb. Once again, I haven't found any painting on canvas to illustrate this proverb. However, some related body paintings can be found on the internet.

Answer: Susanna

Protestants or Jews will say Daniel 13 is not part of the Old Testament, but Catholics (from the Roman Catholic Church or from one of several other Catholic denominations) and Orthodox Christians do include this chapter in their Bible.
The painting described here is "Susanna and the Elders". According to the Vulgata, two elders of the Jewish faith saw every day Susanna (the spouse of Joakim) walking to an enclosed fruit garden, and their lust was awakened. One summer day, Susanna decided to take a bath and sent her maids back to the house for ointment. When the elders tried to lay hands on her, she refused: as a God abiding citizen, she would rather die than sin. So the elders falsely accused her of adultery. Daniel was called to deliver justice, and he interviewed both elders separately. As their declarations differed on the place of the alleged crime, Daniel judged Susanna was innocent and the elders guilty of perjury.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) is one of the very few female Renaissance painters. She specialized in portraying women in different poses. One of the first highlights in her career was the aforesaid painting of "Susanna and the Elders", completed in or around 1610. Later on she would also paint a "Bathsheba", a "Cleopatra" and a "Lucrezia".