Pictures at an Exhibition - Myth and Legend Quiz

Answer: Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Mannerism was an art movement developed in Italy at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. Although most Mannerist artists were Italian, there are some other European examples also: El Greco (1541-1614) in Spain; Joachim Beuckelaer (1530-1573) and Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638) in Belgium; Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1544-1590) in France; Carel van Mander (1548-1606) in the Netherlands; Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610) in Germany; Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) in Britain; Daniel Lindtmayer (1552-1603) in Switzerland; Melchior Lorck (1526-1598) in Denmark and Jacob Seisenegger (1504-1567) in Austria.
There was however never a Chinese Mannerist, so Dong Qichang (1555-1636) is certainly not the right answer. By the way, Dong was not inspired by Roman mythology either: he painted landscapes and calligraphic work.
Jean Baptiste Lemoyne (1704-1778) was a French Baroque sculptor. He did portray Vertumnus, but not in the way described in this question. In Lemoyne's statue, Vertumnus tries to contact the object of his desire, Pomona, whilst having adopted the shape of an old lady. Indeed, Vertumnus was a shape shifter.
Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) was a prolific Italian artist out of the Early Renaissance. Mannerism evolved only two centuries after Giotto's career.
Arcimboldo (1527-1593) was an Italian painter who was especially fond of this kind of dual visions. In all of his paintings you can discern a human face if you look at it from long range. But seeing the picture in close-up, you'll find that the artist in fact has rendered various inanimate things which can be thematically linked to the title of the painting. For example, "The Librarian" is a set of books. "The Water" is a mix of fish and crustaceans, and "Autumn" contains grapes, dead wood and brownish leafs. (I would expect some nuts there too, but I haven't found them yet).

Answer: Fontana del Tritone

All these fountains were made by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and can be found in Rome, Italy. This capital city is abundant with masterpieces by Bernini.
Let's briefly discuss these fountains.
The Fontana del Moro is situated in the southern part of the Piazza Navona. The name is translated as "The Moor Fountain" or "Fountain of the Moor". This name is derived from the main character in the fountain, someone with Moorish, Arabic or Ethiopian facial treats. Although this fountain is attributed to Bernini, some sources state that Giacomo della Porta (1540-1602) would have begun the work and would have created the main character in this fountain.
In the centre of the Piazza Navona we find the "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi" (Fountain of the Four Rivers), completed by Bernini in 1651. This fountain depicts the four main rivers in the world as known in the middle of the Seventeenth Century: the Nile (Africa), the Danube (Europe), the Ganges (Asia) and the Rio della Plata (the Americas). The "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi" is the location of a dramatic scene in the novel "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown and the movie of the same name by Ron Howard.
The "Fontana della Barcaccia" is a fountain situated in the Piazza di Spagna, just below the Spanish Steps. It is named after the obvious form of the fountain: that of a sinking ship.
Of the four given options, only Bernini's "Fontana del Tritone" ("Fountain of the Triton") was named after a mythical creature. Triton was a minor sea god. In Bernini's fountain, he is sculpted as a merman sitting on a scallop and raising a conch. The "Fontana del Tritone" decorates the Piazza Barberini, a square named after Pope Urban VIII (born as Maffeo Barberini, 1568-1644, and elected as Pope in 1623).
The mythic Triton is said to be the son of Poseidon and the messenger for aquatic deities.

Answer: Pieter Brueghel the Elder

According to the four options I gave, you might guess that the first name of the painter is Pieter. But then again, which Pieter? After all, Pieter was and still is a very popular first name.
Let's start with Pieter Mondrian. This Dutch painter was born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (with two letters a), but chose in 1912 the shortened orthography Piet Mondrian. He was born in 1872 and died in 1944. As you see, it is quite impossible to find a Mondrian painted in 1555... Mondrian evolved to a typical abstract painter. Most of his notorious canvases depict juxtaposed large rectangles in one basic colour (red, blue, yellow, black). Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid to add.
Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684) was a Dutch painter born in Rotterdam. After his youth in his birthplace, he moved on to Delft and later to Amsterdam. De Hooch specialised in painting Dutch interiors. During his Rotterdam period, De Hooch produced a number of tavern tableaux, while in Delft and later in Amsterdam he chose houses of the upper middle class as setting for his paintings.
Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1556) was a Flemish painter. As his name mentions, he was born in Aalst, a small town in East Flanders. His best known painting is "Christ and His Disciples on Their Way to Emmaus". Besides paintings, he also produced tapestry and stained glass windows.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) was the son-in-law of Pieter Coecke van Aelst. Brueghel produced some fifty-odd paintings over a period of fifteen years. Most paintings of Brueghel focus on the life of farmers. This explains Brueghel's nickname "the peasant Brueghel".
The Greek legend tells us how Daedalus and his son Icarus built a labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. When Minos took them prisoner, Daedalus got the luminous idea of gathering a bunch of plumes and some wax. From this material, Daedalus made two pair of wings and attached them with the wax. Then Daedalus and his son took off using these wings. Alas, Icarus neglected his father's warning and came too close to the sun, so the wax melted and Icarus fell down to his death.
Surprisingly, Brueghel's painting shows us a ploughing farmer and a shepherd looking up to the sky. We suspect that the shepherd looks at Icarus' fatal fall, but this part of the painting is very unclear. Maybe Icarus isn't in the painting at all...

Answer: Andromache

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) was an Italian painter and sculptor. The statue to which I refer shows a man and a woman in an intimate embrace.
Homer's Iliad makes reference to a quarrel between three goddesses: Hera, Aphrodite and Athena, as to which of these is the most beautiful. They rely on the judgment of a Trojan prince, one of Hector's brothers, to settle their dispute. Aphrodite promises to this prince the most beautiful mortal woman as a reward. Alas, this woman (Helen) is already married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. When the Trojan prince abducts Helen, Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, gather the Greeks in a war on Troy.
During the Trojan War the greatest heroes are the Greek Achilles, King of the Myrmidons, and the Trojan prince Hector.
After this very brief summary of the Trojan War, we have yet to find out who was Hector's wife.
Did you pick Paris? This is not the right answer. Paris was *not* a woman, but a man: one of Hector's many brothers, and infamously the one who abducted Helen and so gave the Greeks a reason to start the war.
Iphigeneia is the daughter of King Agamemnon. When the Greek sailing ships are immobilised by lack of wind, Agamemnon is instructed to sacrifice Iphigeneia. (Even for a princess life among Greeks was not always easy...)
Medea is a princess of Colchis on the Black Sea. She has no connection with the Trojan War, but is mentioned in the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
Hector's wife is Andromache. The famous farewell has inspired not only Giorio de Chirico, but also many other artists. I'll mention here the French painters Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) and Jean Restout (1692-1768).

Answer: Jean-Baptiste Corot

The painting to which I refer shows us a forest with many unidentifiable humans in the background and a loving couple in the foreground. Orpheus carries his favourite music instrument, a lyre, in his left hand. Eurydice follows him, holding his right hand behind his back.
The myth comes to a dramatic climax at some point after the scene depicted in this painting: when Orpheus doubted if Eurydice was still there, he turned his head - which he should not have done. As a punishment for breaking the rules, Orpheus would never see Eurydice again.
André le Nôtre (1613-1700) was a famous French architect. He designed the gardens of the palaces at Versailles and at Chantilly. By the way, I have left out the diacritic marks in the given option to avoid confusing displays in "flash quiz" play.
Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) was a Swiss sculptor, best known for his mobile statues (for example the eponymous fountain in Basel, Switzerland, containing a number of bicycle wheels).
Victor Vasarely (1908-1997) was a Hungarian painter who adopted the French nationality. He was one of the leading artists in the Op Art movement. Op Art is derived from Abstract Art and focuses on the suggestion of movement.
The only French painter living in 1861 and mentioned in the question is Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875). He left us several landscapes and portraits. It is said that he produced over 1,000 paintings.

Answer: Eugene Delacroix

Felix Tournachon (1820-1910) adopted the pseudonym "Nadar" and is one of the first artistic photographers. He started his photographing career around 1853. Before this date, he produced some caricatures and a number of magazine articles.
Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was a French sculptress. She worked for some time with Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Her Romantic statues don't include any references to religion, mythology or legend whatsoever.
François Mansart (1598-1666) was a French architect. His name lives on in the mansard roof: a roof construction with outward slopes to enlarge the attic space in order to be able to use the attic as a spare room.
The only of these four French artists who made lithographs in 1828 is Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). In this period, he made a series of lithographs to illustrate Goethe's novel "Faust". Mephistopheles is the devil who takes the title character Dr. Faust on a tour, while Margarethe (the love interest of Dr. Faust) is imprisoned on the accusation of the murder of her own brother. The lithograph shows us a winged nude male with curved claws, hovering over the German city of Wittenberg.

Answer: Unicorn

Domenico Zampieri (1581-1641) was nicknamed Domenichino - "little Dominic". He was a prolific Italian Baroque painter. He was frequently inspired by religious and mythical scenes.
The fresco to which I refer in this question was completed in 1602.
The dragon is a fierce creature mentioned in myths of almost all over the world: from Greece and Rome up to China. However, I've mentioned in the question that the virgin catches the animal. In the dragon tales that encompass a virgin, it is mostly the other way round: the dragon guards a captive virgin (dragons are especially fond of princesses, according to various myths) from a valiant knight.
A hippogriff is the rare offspring of a horse and a griffin (half lion, half eagle). This creature is composed of the legs and body of a horse and the wings and head of an eagle. As far as my research stretches, there are no legends of hippogriffs captured and tamed by virgins. Most people who have tamed a hippogriff according to legend were wizards of some kind. (You'll find a hippogriff in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K Rowling, where once again a wizard has tamed the beast).
The Phoenix is a legendary bird in Egyptian, Phoenician (of course!) and Greek myth. The marvellous bird has a lifespan of about a thousand years, after which it is consumed by fire. Out of the ashes, a new bird arises. Professor Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" series has a phoenix as a pet. Similar creatures are found in Indian mythology (Garuda), Russian folklore, Chinese and Japanese myth. I haven't found any myth involving a phoenix with a virgin.
Although unicorns appear in various myths, the Greeks and the Romans treated them as real existing animals, not as mythical creatures. They might have been impressed by rhinoceroses or some species of antelopes.
The unicorn resembles a horse with some unusual aspects: a single long horn on the forehead, a goat beard and cloven hoofs.
Virgins are reputed to have a special attraction for unicorns. When a virgin maiden sits down in a forest, a unicorn is bound to approach her and lay its head in her lap. This is exactly what is depicted in Domenichino's fresco.

Answer: Charon

Patenier (1480-1524) was a Belgian landscape painter. In the painting to which I refer, Patenier has depicted a large nude male ferrying a wide estuary towards a coastline with burning blast-furnaces. In the boat this ferryman steers, we can find a nude young child (it is not clear whether the passenger is a boy or a girl). The painting is not dated.
The painting bears the name "Charon" - the Greek name for the mythical man rowing on the Acheron (and/or the Styx), a river on the edge of the Underworld. Various sources confirm that Charon transported the dead souls to the Underworld, and very rarely in the opposite direction. (Greek myth tells us of only a few people having visited the Underworld without having died: Orpheus, to fetch his wife Eurydice; Heracles, to catch the three-headed hell hound Cerberus; and Odysseus, to consult the dead soothsayer Tiresias; to mention the best known of them).
Traditionally, the Greeks put a coin in the mouth of a deceased person to pay for Charon's services. This tradition is also mentioned in Michael J. Bird's novel "Who Pays the Ferryman" and the TV series made out of it. In the novel as well as in the TV series, the protagonist receives a coin with an anonymous note stating "For Charon", indicating a death treat.

Answer: Rhea Silvia

Della Quercia (1374-1438) was an Italian sculptor of the Early Renaissance. He lived most of his career in or about the Tuscan city of Siena.
The statue mentioned in this question was carved in marble and can still be admired in Siena. It shows us a mother with two children, allegedly the twins Romulus and Remus. According to Roman myth, this mother had to abandon the twin brothers, who were put astray in the forest. A she-wolf found and suckled them.
This part of the interesting information is not sufficient: you would certainly want to know the name of Romulus' and Remus' mother, and the reason why I have put up the other options.
Let's start with "Canis Lupus". This is not a mythical creature, but the Latin name of the European wolf. The link with Romulus and Remus is clear, I would think.
Dido was the Queen of Carthage who fell in love with Aeneas, a fugitive from the Trojan War. According to Virgil, Aeneas was a distant ancestor of Romulus and Remus. Wikipedia states that Aeneas was a direct ancestor of Romulus, but in the fifteenth grade.
Minerva is the Roman equivalent to the goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom. The only link with Romulus is that both gave their names to important ancient cities.
The mythical mother of Romulus and Remus was Rhea Silvia. She was the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa, a city founded by Aeneas. When Amulius, the younger brother of Numitor, seized power, he forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, so she could never have children anymore. But the war god Mars was infatuated by Rhea Silvia and he seduced her in the woods. According to some sources, Amulius condemned Rhea Silvia to be buried alive (the standard punishment for an unchaste Vestal Virgin). As to the twin brothers, they were put astray, with the consequences we already know.

Answer: Parsifal

Odilon Redon (1840-1916) left us only a few artworks.
All the names I've mentioned here appear also in Arthurian legend.
Merlin was not one of the *knights* of the Round Table, but a wizard serving King Arthur.
Mordred, according to some sources the (illegitimate) son of King Arthur, is mostly considered as a traitor. He certainly was not one of the glorious Knights of the Round Table.
Lancelot is one of the best known Knights of the Round Table. He falls in love with Queen Guinevere, who is already married to King Arthur. There were made several operas about Lancelot, but none by a famous German composer. Operas named after Lancelot were composed by the Scot Iain Hamilton (1922-2000), the French Victorine de Joncières (1839-1903) and Augusta Holmes (1847-1903), the Czech Lubos Fiser (1935-1999), and the Italian Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973).
Parsifal (Percival) is also one of the Knights of the Round Table. Richard Wagner named his last opera after Parsifal. In some novels Parsifal finds the Holy Grail but doesn't use its healing abilities, while in Wagner's opera he does use it to heal the Fisher King.
In the drawing Redon made, we can see a lonely figure against a dark background. Only the title can help us identify the depicted person.

Answer: Ilya Repine

Sadko is a mythical character living near a Russian lake. When he pleases the Czar with his music, Sadko is given a boat with which he goes fishing and gathers enormous wealth. But then he forgets to thank the Czar, and the Czar takes everything away.
This folklore tale inspired the poet Alexey Tolstoy and the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as the painter we are looking for in this question.
Andrej Roublev (1360-1427) was a famous icon painter. He could not have completed any artwork in 1876, for he died more than four centuries before.
Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), a Russian sculptor, was not even born in 1876. So he is not the right option either.
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) doesn't qualify for the same reason. Besides, he was a poet and an author ("Dr. Zhivago"), and not a painter.
So the only right answer can be Ilya Repine (1844-1930), a prolific painter known for his historical and mythical scenes.
Some of you might deplore the difficulty of this question. However, I felt a strong urge to introduce some Russian artists in this quiz.

Answer: Iris

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is one of the most famous French sculptors of all times. His masterpieces include "The Thinker" and "The Kiss".
The clue that we're looking for a plant does not help you very much: all the given options are plants. And the fact that the plant bears the same name (or almost) as a creature from Greek myth, doesn't provide you with the right answer either - for all these answers are linked to Greek or Roman mythology.
So let us examine the options.
Hyacinth (the plant) was named after Hyacinthus (the mythical man) - a beautiful youngster who competed with the god Apollo in discus throwing. Alas, Apollo's disc hit Hyacinthus in the head and instantly killed him. On the spot where Hyacinthus died, a new flower arose, which was formed by Hyacinthus' blood drops or by Apollo's tears (the two versions both exist).
The French artist François Joseph Bosio (1768-1845) made a statue of Hyacinthus.
Amaryllis is a character in Virgil's Bucolica, a pastoral poem, and in a poem by Theocritos. In both works she is portrayed as a gentle shepherdess.
Narcissus was a beautiful young boy who fell in love with his own image. He drowned when trying to kiss his mirror reflection in a pond. (There are different versions on how Narcissus died. I chose to relate here the one that in my humble opinion fits best with his character.)
The female messenger of the gods was Iris. She is the personification of the rainbow and, according to some stories, uses this rainbow to travel swiftly.
The sculpture Rodin entitled "Iris" is a small bronze statue showing a headless nude female in a "X-rated" pose.

Answer: Nausicaa

Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) was an Italian painter. He specialised in landscapes with battle scenes, although the picture I mention here does not contain any battle.
Hippolyte has nothing to do with the Odyssey, which describes the long voyage home undertaken by King Odysseus and his soldiers. Hippolyte was a Queen of the Amazons, and gained her place in Greek myth when Heracles was ordered to steal her girdle.
Penelope was Odysseus' wife. When Odysseus went to the Trojan War, the young and very handsome Penelope remained at home. This fact combined with the long absence of Odysseus (the Trojan War lasted for ten years, and Odysseus wandered another ten years all over the Mediterranean) led to a large number of suitors competing for Penelope's hand (and the rest as well...) in marriage. Penelope announced that she would choose a new husband as soon as a burial shroud for Odysseus' father was finished. But at night, she tore up what she had woven during the day.
Circe was a witch living on the island Aeaea. When Odysseus and some of his companions arrived at Aeaea, Circe put a spell on Odysseus' companions, turning them into pigs. Odysseus remained there for some time and is said to have conceived a son (or maybe more) with Circe. (Now what kind of moral is this? Penelope has to invent tricks to remain chaste for twenty years, while her husband procreates freely...)
The daughter of the Phaeacian King Alcinous was Nausicaä. She was with some of her servants on the seashore, doing the laundry, when a naked Odysseus came out of the woods. While her servants fled, Nausicaä gave Odysseus some of the laundry to cover his nakedness. (Even in Homer's time there was something like the third Work of Mercy).
Rosa's painting "Odysseus and Nausicaä" can be visited in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. However, don't expect too much: the version I've found on internet was very dark, and might do with a thorough restoration.

Answer: "The Birth of Cupid"

Eustache Le Sueur (1616-1665) was a French painter. Between 1652 and 1655, he completed the paintings "Terpsichore", "Melpomene, Erato and Polyhymnia" and "Clio, Euterpe and Thalia". His painting "The Birth of Cupid" dates back to 1647.
If you have read the sentence about the three paintings completed between 1652 and 1655, you might have noticed that all the people portrayed in these paintings were different Muses. This is the clue to the right answer: Cupid has nothing to do with the Muses, so the painting depicting his birth is not related. Cupid is of course the young love god assisting Venus (in Greek mythology, Cupid is named Eros and his mother is Aphrodite).
Clio is the Muse of History. Normally she is shown with scrolls, but in this particular painting she carries another characteristic attribute: a trumpet. Euterpe patronizes music (more specifically fluteplay) and is thus shown with a flute. Thalia is the Muse protecting comedy and is depicted with a comic mask.
Melpomene is the Muse of tragedy. She would be portrayed with a tragic mask, but in Le Sueur's painting her attribute does not show. Erato is the Muse of lyric poetry (and romantic poetry). Her usual attribute is the cithara, but Le Sueur substitutes this stringed instrument by another: a cello. Polyhymnia patronizes choral poetry. Normally she would wear a veil, but Le Sueur chose to depict her with an epic novel on her lap.
Terpsichore is the Muse of dance. She usually holds a lyre, which Le Sueur replaced with a triangle.
The "missing Muses" are Calliope, patron of epic poetry, and Urania, Muse of astronomy and geography.

Answer: Bertel Thorvaldsen

Jason was a Prince of Thessaly. His uncle Pelias seized power, but promised to abdicate in favour of Jason on one condition: that he would fetch the Golden Fleece, a legendary gilded ram's hide guarded by a fierce dragon. So Jason gathered some of the finest Greek heroes and half-gods, manned the ship the Argo and set sail for Kolchis, the place where the Golden Fleece could be found. After many adventures, Jason and his Argonauts managed to obtain the Golden Fleece.
Wit Stosz (1448-1533), (alternative orthography: Veit Stoss) was a German sculptor (although some sources might indicate the Polish nationality. But at that time, Poland was not yet a specific country). His best known religious works can be found in Krakow and in Nurnberg.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright. Probably his best known work is "Peer Gynt", set to music by his compatriot Edvard Grieg (1843-1907).
Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) was a Danish architect and designer. His masterpieces include the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, the National Bank of Denmark (also in Copenhagen) and St. Catherine's College in Oxford (UK).
The Danish sculptor we were looking for is Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844). He produced several statues of mythical characters in Classical style.
This specific statue shows us a young male in an outfit that would nowadays delight the town gossip. He has a plumed helmet on his head. Over his left shoulder, he wears a sash on which his sword sheath dangles, whereas he lets his sword rest on his right shoulder. In his left hand he carries the famous Golden Fleece. Furthermore, he wears nothing but two slippers on his feet.

Information in this quiz was found in the following online sources: the Webmuseum; Web Gallery of Art; Operone; Naxos; and Wikipedia. Furthermore, I have consulted the Encarta encyclopaedia on CD-ROM and the following books: "Le Petit Larousse" (1993); "Van Dale's Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal" (1992); "Verschueren Groot Encyclopedisch Woordenboek" (1996); "World History" by Carl Grimberg et alia (2004) and "7000 Years of World History" edited by Lekturama (1977).