Swedish Art Trivia Quiz

The municipality of Tanum is the site of Bronze Age pteroglyphs (rock carvings), dating from the period between 1700 and 500 BCE, that have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The heritage site covers an area of around 50 hectares, or 125 acres.

There are several thousand images, illustrating numerous facets of daily life. This includes people riding in boats (the site was on the coast at the time), hunters and their prey, farmers with ploughs, men on horseback, and others whose significance is debated. That includes the image used here, which is described as three men engaged in a ritual - the weapons they wield do not seem to be aimed at each other, but to be some form of display.

Many artefacts from the Viking Age (8th - 11th centuries CE) have been found around Europe, carried there by the Vikings as they expanded their territory. In Sweden, Birka was known as an important trading centre; while its exact location was not recorded, it is thought to have been on the island now known as Björkö, about 30 km west of Stockholm. Excavations of burial sites on the island have yielded a range of items, including some graves with silver crosses and some with small pendants of Mjölnir, the hammer of Thor. This indicates that the residents of Birka included both Christians (among the earliest in Scandinavia) and adherents of the traditional Viking beliefs. The controversial Allah ring (which has an inscription that appears to be in Arabic) is considered to reflect the trading contacts between Birka and the Islamic world, a status symbol for its owner rather than a reflection of religious belief.

The graves on the island included numerous items that are considered decorative rather than functional, which is common for such archaeological sites. As well as the religious items already mentioned, there are textile fragments that give an idea of the way women of the time dressed, and a range of jewelry items. One of these, called the Birka Dragonhead, is a brooch about 4 cm (1.5 in) long made out of tin. It is noted for the fact that archaeologists believe it shows evidence of having been cast from a mold, one of the earliest such items.

This carved wooden statue of a seated Madonna, dating from the latter part of the 12th century, was created for the Romanesque church of that name on the island of Gotland. While attempts were at one time made to link it with artists from further south in Europe, it is now thought to have been carved by an artist (or group) working in Gotland. The statue originally showed her with an infant Jesus on her lap, but that part of the carving was lost over time. In 1928 the Swedish History Museum purchased the statue, and made five replicas, one of which is on display in the original church.

The statuette (at a height of 27 cm, or 10 in, it definitely qualifies for the diminutive form) is carved from several different types of wood, with linden being the major component. The posts of the chair were shaped on a lathe, rather than being carved by hand, while the figure itself was carved. As well as the gold leaf used for her robe, Mary is adorned with imitation jewels. You may note that her hair is plaited in a traditional Scandinavian style.

Albertus Pictor (Albert the painter) produced this painting, on the wall of Täby Church near Stockholm, during the 1480s. He was born in the German town of Immenhausen around 1440, but had moved to Sweden by 1465, when his name appeared on the list of burghers of Arboga, basing himself in Stockholm around 1473. He painted numerous church wall paintings, mostly in secco, and it is for these that he is best known. Other accomplishments include performing as an organist, and accomplished embroidery work - leading to a nickname of Pärlstickare, or pearl-embroiderer.

The church at Täby has a number of fresco paintings by Albertus Pictor, most of which can be seen to be inspired by the same urge to present the Bible in pictures that was behind the 'Biblia Pauperum' (Pauper's Bibles) that were then becoming popular. 'Death Playing chess', one of the ceiling frescoes, however, is unique, and appears to spring from the artist's own imagination.

'Death Playing Chess' was said by Ingmar Bergman to have been the inspiration for a famous scene in his classic 1957 movie 'The Seventh Seal'. In this scene, the medieval knight played by Max von Sydow plays chess with the personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot). Bergman included Albertus Pictor as a minor character, engaged in conversation with the knight's squire while working on a mural.

Urban Larsson, originally known simply as Urban the painter, was officially a court painter of King Gustav Vasa starting in 1526, but little else is known about his life. The original painting of 'Vädersoltavla' is attributed to him, although it has been lost and is now only known from a copy (long thought to have been a restoration of the original) made in 1636 by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas and displayed in Stockholm Cathedral. It is significant as one of the earliest images to show Stockholm in colour, and possibly both the earliest Swedish landscape painting and the earliest depiction of the astronomical phenomenon known as a sun dog.

The painting depicts an actual event, occurring on 20 April 1535. There was a brilliant halo display (large rings formed by atmospheric ice crystals), which was seen as an omen at a significant time in the city's history. The new king and the leader of the Swedish Reformation, Olaus Petri, were engaged in a power struggle, and Petri interpreted the celestial display as a warning from God that the king should stop taking over, and had 'Vädersoltavla' painted and hung in his church as a warning. The king interpreted it differently, and eventually emerged victorious in their confrontation.

The sun dogs are the two bright flares on either side of the sun, near the top right of the painting. It should be noted that the halos are not accurately placed, possibly due to the artist's effort to display the city as seen from his observation point, but the sky as seen from someone in the city. Their relative brightness, however, is considered to be accurate, although this is not as clear in this copy as in its restored version.

Originally sporting the Latin title 'Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna', this three-volume collection of engravings based on drawings by Erik Dahlbergh was commissioned by the king of Sweden in 1661, and published progressively over the ensuing years. A Swedish military engineer, Dahlbergh was known for his success in battle, his skill in designing fortresses (and the works he wrote describing the theory behind them) and his skillful map-making. He led a team producing detailed drawings of contemporary Sweden, including topographical maps and illustrations of settlements and imposing buildings, including military fortifications. Following his death in 1703, 365 plates from his work were engraved and compiled into a three-volume work published in 1716.

Dahlbergh's inspiration for his work was 'Topographia Germaniae', a series of topographical engravings by the Swiss-born Matthäus Merian der Ältere along with his son (Matthäus Merian der Jüngere) and German geographer Martin Zeiler. This twenty-one-volume collection included maps and detailed town plans along with visual depictions of the cities. Dahlberg's vision was to do the same for Sweden, celebrating the growth of his nation to its then-current position of power.

The Swedish painter Carl Gustaf Pilo (1711-1793) spent most of his adult life in Denmark, where he was a director of the Royal Danish Academy of Art and a painter to the Danish Royal Court. In 1772 he had to take an oath of loyalty to Sweden as a condition for being awarded the Cross of the Knight of the Order of Vasa. As this was seen to be incompatible with his position at the Danish court, he was forced to return to Sweden. He was made an honorary member of the royal Swedish Academy of fine Arts, and approached by the new king to create a painting of his upcoming coronation.

'The Coronation of Gustaf III', despite being unfinished, is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Swedish art. The coronation took place in 1782, and Pilo worked on the painting for the duration of his reign (until his assassination in 1792), failing to compete it before his own death the following year. As befits the majestic subject matter, this is a large painting: 293 cm high, 531 cm wide, using the usual units for measuring paintings. To put that into perspective, the height is nearly 3 metres, or 10 feet, and the width half again as much.

'Sommarnöje', a watercolour painted in 1886 by Anders Zorn (1860-1920), set a record in 2010 as the most expensive Swedish painting ever sold, at 26 million krona, about 3.35 million US dollars. Zorn was known as a sculptor and engraver, but achieved most fame as a portrait painter. He was called on to produce portraits of a number of notable figures, including King Oscar II of Sweden (in 1898), and three US Presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt.

'Sommarnöje' shows clear influence from the Impressionists Zorn had mingled with while travelling around Europe before returning to Sweden to settle down, but the subdued colour palette is distinctly Nordic. It was painted while Zorn was still living with his wife's family on Dalarö, immediately after their honeymoon and before they purchased their own residence in his home town of Mora. The woman on the dock is Emma Zorn, and the man in the rowboat is their friend Carl Gustav Dahlström.

Johan Axel Gustaf Törneman (1880-1925) is considered one of Sweden's most important painters, working in several different styles of the post-impressionist era. He studied in both Germany and France, with the former period having the greater influence on his work, but the latter being the time he produced what are considered his most significant paintings. These were a series of paintings based on sketches made at Parisian night clubs, titled 'Night Café I' and 'Night Café II'. The image used in the question, 'Självporträtt med pipa', was painted in 1916, and is only one pof a number he created over the years. Most of them cannot be precisely dated, so are recorded in catalogues simply as 'before1925', the year he died from what was diagnosed as a bleeding ulcer.

As well as all his oil on canvas paintings, Törneman painted a number of commissioned murals, including a 1918 fresco mural called 'De elektriska strömmarna' (The Electric Currents) on the ceiling of a lecture hall in the Royal Institute of Technology. The painting, although somewhat controversial, was widely praised, but during the 1950s a renovation to the hall led to it being covered by a new ceiling. It remained intact (aside from a hole created by the installation of a ventilation duct), and was rediscovered in 1993, when the new ceiling was undergoing repairs. A thin layer of the ceiling was carefully removed and placed on a new support backing, allowing the mural to be seen once again.

'Midvinterblot', painted by Carl Larsson (1853-1919) in 1915 for the National Museum in Stockholm, was nominated by the artist as his favourite among his works, but it was also one of the most controversial Swedish paintings, and was initially rejected. Based on a Norse legend, it show the Swedish king being sacrificed by the people in order to ward off famine in the land. Larsson's paintings for the other walls, which were accepted and placed on the walls of the central staircase, were more positive, and included a triumphant king in midsummer; the painter wanted to present a strong contrast for the final wall. He had made a number of sketches of the subject matter, but the final watercolour was only accepted subject to changes (minimising the significance of the figure of the sacrificed king) which Larsson was unwilling to make.

His final painting of the planned wall covering was displayed several times before going into a private collection. In 1992, as part of a bicentennial celebration, the current owner lent the painting to the National Museum, so visitors could see it displayed in its intended position. The public and critical response was so positive that the museum bought the painting and installed it permanently where Larsson had meant it to be. This vindication came much too late for the artist, who had been deeply embittered by the rejection of his work, as he wrote in his memoir 'Jag': "The fate of 'Midvinterblot' broke me! This I admit with a dark anger. And still, it was probably the best thing that could have happened, because my intuition tells me - once again! - that this painting, with all its weaknesses, will one day, when I'm gone, be honoured with a far better placement."