Painting Details

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1. In Tiziano's "Venere di Urbino" the main focus is of course on the beautiful woman in the foreground. But there are two other women in the background. You can't see the face of the one on the left; why? Because she is hiding her face with a veil. Because she is in deep shadow. Because she is wearing a mask. Because she is busy searching for something in a chest.

2. In Courbet's "The Young Ladies on the Bank of the Seine" two young ladies, possibly two "night ladies", are relaxing on the river bank during a hot summer day. What can you see half hidden behind the tree on the right? A picnic basket. A bush. A bunch of flowers. A straw hat.

3. In Vermeer's "Lady Standing at a Virginal" there is a painting on the wall behind the lady. It shows a Cupid holding something. What is the Cupid holding? A feather. An arrow. A card. A heart.

4. In the background of Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" a bridge is visible. True False

5. In which painting the main focus is on a tiny white highlight emerging from a dark background? Giorgione's "La Tempesta". Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Rembrandt's "The Nightwatch". Raffaello's "La Fornarina".

6. Carpaccio's "Two courtesans" depicts two ladies melancolicly sitting on a Venetian "altana" (i.e. a sort of terrace built on the top of the house). On the balustrade on the top left of the paintings there are a few pigeons and... something else. Name this something. A vase with just a stem emerging from it. An urn. A vase with a flower. An amphor.

7. There is a self portrait in Jan Van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Marriage". True False

8. Talking about mirrors, in which other famous painting is a mirror the focal point explaining to us what all the characters are doing? (Hint: There is a self portrait in this painting too). Velasquez's "Las Meninas". Van Gogh's "Self-Portrait in Front of the Easel". Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson". Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"

9. In Gericault's "The Raft of the Meduse" on the bottom left you can see an unconscious or possibly dead young man who is about to slip from the raft were it not for an old man holding him. This character is almost completely naked, since he wears just a piece of clothing. Which one? His socks. A loincloth. His underwear. A towel.

10. To finish, a quite famous detail. In Holbein's "The Ambassadors", among a lot of symbols and clues there is a funny shape on the floor, at the two men's feet. What is it? A skull. A sundial. A terrestrial globe. A telescope.