Pictures at an Exhibition: History in Art Quiz

Answer: Mucius Scaevola

Hans Baldung Grien (1485-1545) was a German painter and woodcarver. He made several historical or mythical paintings.
Rome was founded (according to legend) on April 21st, 753 BC and had seven Kings before it was transformed into a Republic. The depicted scene took place when the people of Rome had deposed their last king. However, the last King of Rome had asked a neighbouring tribe for help, and this tribe besieged Rome. The Roman hero we're looking for entered the enemy camp and wanted to kill the enemy King. When he stabbed the wrong man, our hero deliberately burnt his right hand to impress the enemy.
The painting shows the dramatic end of the story: the hero deliberately holding his right hand in the fire.
Lucius Licinius Lucullus (117 BC - 56 BC) is not remembered for any heroic act, but as a gourmet: his banquets abounded with exquisite food and the best wine. However, Lucullus did win some important battles against Mithridates of Pontus and against Tigranes of Armenia.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator (280 BC - 203 BC) was the cautious consul fighting Hannibal and his Punic troops. When Fabius' colleagues perished in reckless battles against Hannibal, Fabius avoided large battles and applied guerrilla tactics. Hannibal's supply lines were overstretched and so Fabius chased Hannibal out of Italy.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus (210 BC - 115 BC) was a successful general during the Second Century BC. He subdued Macedon in 148 BC and the Greeks in 146 BC.
The Roman hero we were looking for is Gaius Mucius Scaevola. This man is mentioned in Livy's history books, but modern historians doubt if Mucius was a real or a fictional character.

Answer: Mao Zedong

César (1921-1998) was a French sculptor. He liked to make "compressions" of all kind of rubbish (broken car parts, for example).
The bronze artwork to which I refer shows two heads of people dressed in uniform. They are connected by some sort of veil covering their hats.
Lao Tse is the name of an ancient Chinese philosopher, who lived during the Sixth Century BC (inasmuch he did really live: there is some debate whether Lao Tse was a real person or a fictional god). If Lao Tse ever lived, it was many centuries before the first communist ideas appeared.
K'ung Fu Tzu (551 BC - 479 BC) is better known to westerners as Confucius. He too was an ancient Chinese philosopher. No communist ideas can be found in the writings popularly ascribed to K'ung. He is said to be the author of the thought "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others" (a thought that sounds very familiar to Christians, but precedes Christ by many centuries).
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) was the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuo Min Tang) between 1938 and 1975. He also was the President of the Republic of China (nowadays known as Taiwan) from 1950 until his death. Chiang was one of the fiercest adversaries of communism in the Far East.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976) has given his name to Cesar's sculpture "Homage to Mao". Mao was chairman of the Communist Party of China between 1943 and 1975. From 1954 until 1959, Mao was also the President of the People's Republic of China.

Answer: Sappho

Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856) was a French painter. He is best known for some Romantic female nudes (for instance, "The Tepidarium" and "The Toilette of Esther").
The drawing Chassériau made shows us a rather young woman (about 35) with very long hair, holding a lyre and balancing on the edge of a cliff.
Erato is not a poetess, but the mythical Muse who is patron of love poetry.
Baucis is the mythical spouse of Philemon. This retired couple would have lived in Phrygia (nowadays Central Anatolia, in Turkey) in an era not specified in legend. When the gods Zeus and Hermes visited Phrygia incognito, Philemon and Baucis were the only to show hospitality towards these guests. As a reward, they were given a long life and finally transformed into two trees which would die at the same time.
Alcyone is another mythical character. When she heard of the death of her husband Ceyx in a shipwreck, she drowned herself in the sea. Both Ceyx and Alcyone were revived and transformed into a seagull and a kingfisher, respectively.
Sappho was a Greek poetess living on the island of Lesbos. She was born between 630 BC and 612 BC (sources differ widely) and died about 570 BC. Her life is a bit of a mystery. Some sources state that she would have committed suicide by leaping into the sea, but others refute this theory. There is also a controversy about her sexual preferences.

Answer: Katharina von Bora

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) was a famous German painter. He portrayed all of these four women, as well as their respective husbands.
Cranach's painting shows us Martin Luther on the left and his wife on the right panel. Luther is dressed in black and wears a black hat. His wife wears a black and white bodice and a fur mantle. Neither wears any jewellery.
Katharina von Mecklenburg (1487-1561) was married to Henry IV the Pious, duke of Saxony (1473-1541). They were portrayed by Cranach in 1514 and again in 1531.
Anna Putsch (1485-1513) was married to the diplomat Johannes Cuspinian (1473-1529). Cranach painted their portraits in 1502.
Margarethe Lindemann (1459-1531) and her husband Hans Luder (1459-1530) were Martin Luther's parents. Cranach portrayed them in 1527. Incidentally: the orthography of family names varied quite a bit in those days.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) married Katharina von Bora (1499-1552), a former nun, in 1525. Cranach made a portrait of Katharina von Bora in 1526 and a diptych of both husband and wife in 1543.
I'll tell you how Luther came to marry von Bora. When von Bora informed Luther she disliked living in a convent, Luther had a fishmonger smuggle her (and some other disappointed nuns) out of the convent. Having found a job or a husband for all of the escaped nuns but for Katharina von Bora, Luther decided finally to marry her himself. Not quite a romantic story, is it?

Answer: Nadar

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) was a French illustrator and painter. Many of his works have a satirical inkling.
The lithograph shows us an early photographer taking for the sky in a hot air balloon. But seriously: who was this photographer?
Nicéphore Nièpce (1765-1833) was one of the pioneers in photography. The first photo that survived the ages was taken by Nièpce in 1826 (and can still be admired on the Encarta Encyclopaedia). By the way, I've left out the accents in the answer choices to avoid confusing effects in flash quiz mode.
Man Ray (1890-1976, born Emmanuel Radnitsky) was a famous polyvalent American artist. He created paintings, drawings, movies and collages, but is perhaps best known for his photos. One of his masterpieces is "Le violon d'Ingres": a photo of a nude woman posing as in Ingres' painting "The Turkish Bath". The model is photographed from behind, and the sound-holes of a violin are painted upon her back.
Joseph Plateau (1801-1883) was a Belgian pioneer of the movies. His phenakistiscope (a rotating disk with images, spinning around behind another disk with tiny windows) demonstrated the optical illusion of continuous motion, if the images were rotated at the right speed.
Felix Tournachon (1820-1910), who adopted the pseudonym Nadar, was the photographer we're looking for. After a journalistic career, he decided to take up photography. In 1858 he chartered a hot air balloon and took photos from up in the air. In 1863 he owned a private hot air balloon which he used for the same purpose.

Answer: Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was consecrated Emperor of France in December 1804. Pope Pius VII anointed Napoleon, and Napoleon himself took the crown and placed it on his head.
The painting to which I refer shows us the part of the ceremony in which Napoleon puts a crown on his wife's head. The Pope is relegated to an observing role. Oddly enough, Napoleon wears at this moment a gilded laurel crown, whereas I'd expect a full crown on his head. Is this an artistic liberty?
Wou-Ki Zao is obviously not the most familiar name. I didn't know him either when I started the research for this series of quizzes. In fact, Zao is a French painter born in Beijing in 1921. (Surely you did understand from his name that he was not French born). Some of his paintings were named only after the date of completion, without giving any clue as to the subject of the work. I'll give you two examples: "14.12.59" and "4.4.85".
René Lalique (1860-1945) was a French jeweller and enamel artist. He is best remembered for his vases in Art Déco and Jugendstil style.
Ieoh Ming Pei (born 1917) was not a French painter, but an American architect (born in China). One of his masterpieces is the glass pyramid over the entrance of the Louvre museum in Paris, France.
The painter we were looking for in this question is Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), court artist of Napoleon. David painted historic scenes throughout his career. Some of his masterpieces: "Oath of the Horatii" (1784), "Death of Marat" (1793) and the aforesaid "Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Joséphine". I wonder why he didn't choose a shorter title for this masterpiece...

Answer: Epaminondas

Pierre Jean David (artist's name David d'Angers) was born in 1788 and died in 1856. He was a French Romantic sculptor. Besides several portraits, he left us also a number of statues inspired by history.
The plaster bas-relief shows us a bearded young man dressed in sandals and a helmet only (not quite the military uniform you would expect...), with a loin cloth on the verge of falling off. A slave (to be recognised by the lack of any clothing) takes the large oval shield from the dying centre figure. To the right two men in toga and helmet stand watching, and a third man in toga holds the dying general in his arms. To the left, a foot soldier (dressed in the same way as the dying general) bursts out in tears and a woman dressed in sandals only tries to console this infantry soldier.
Keeping in mind that Thebans and other Greeks preferred heavy armoured foot soldiers, this sculpture makes not quite an impression of accuracy to historians. But then again, we have seen throughout these quizzes that many artists have a different view on fashion.
On reviewing this quiz, I discovered the question mentions itself the correct answer. But as this doesn't strike anyone, I decided to leave it as it is. If you didn't see it, don't feel too disappointed: blink and you'll miss it.
Let's examine the four options I gave.
Socrates is the best known of these four names. But he was not a soldier, let alone a successful general. Socrates (469 BC -399 BC) was a philosopher, teaching his pupils to ask questions. Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) and Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) both painted "The Death of Socrates".
Thersites is a character from Homer's Iliad. He is nicknamed "The Braggart". The death of this quarrelsome type has not been recorded in any extant literature, so it has probably not inspired any artist to make an artwork on this event.
Sardanapalus would have been the last Assyrian King. His name would be a Greek bastard version of the name Assurbanipal. Henceforth we talk about the legendary Sardanapalus, not about the historical Assurbanipal: I have strong doubts that the character traits ascribed to Sardanapalus also apply to Assurbanipal. After all, the historical Assurbanipal did conquer Egypt.
Living in luxury, Sardanapalus enjoyed all the bodily lusts. But then a Mede rebel took it upon himself to free this world from the effeminate Sardanapalus. The rebels defeated Sardanapalus' army and entered the palace. Seeing all was lost, Sardanapalus committed suicide (according to some sources, with the help of one of his slaves). This story inspired the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily (living in the First Century BC), the English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) and the French painter Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863).
The Theban general we were looking for in this question was Epaminondas. He was reportedly killed by a spear during the Battle of Mantinea, the second of his tactical victories over Sparta.

Answer: Eugene Delacroix

"Liberty Leading the People" is a large canvas with several movements. The central figure is a woman dressed in an ochre robe (leaving the breasts uncovered) and a Phrygian hat. She holds a rifle with bayonet in her left hand and a French tricolour in her right hand. Barefooted, she ascends the barricades (consisting of the usual rubble and some corpses). To her left a young boy fires a pistol in the air. To her right a dandy in top hat and student's attire follows her. This dandy remembers me of Rodolphe, the student in Puccini's "La Bohème", but cannot be based on the opera - for the opera was composed only several years later. Some commentators have compared the young boy to Gavroche, the character out of the novel and theatre show "Les Misérables", but this association too is refuted by the chronology. The painting appeared in 1830, "Les Misérables" dates from 1862 and Puccini's opera saw its premiere in 1896.
By the way, the painting "Liberty Leading the People" does not commemorate the French Revolution of 1789 (as many art amateurs might think), but the July Revolution of 1830 in Paris.
Léonard Limosin (1505-1577) was a French enamel artist. His "Crucifixion" and "Resurrection" on the cover of a Bible are quite worth looking at.
Fernand Léger (1881-1955) was a French painter and sculptor. He painted in different styles: Impressionist (the first years of his career), Cubist, Abstract, Figurative... Most of his artworks can be recognised for their three-dimensional geometric figures in bright primary colours.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) was a French painter. He was a student of Eugène Delacroix and prepared the way for the symbolism found in works by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). Puvis de Chavannes frequently painted on a canvas to be attached to a wall, giving it the appearance of a fresco without using typical fresco techniques.
The artist who created "Liberty Leading the People" is Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). This painting is by far his best known work. In all Delacroix left us about 850 paintings, including also "The Massacre at Chios" and "Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi".

Answer: Jacob Fugger

Albrecht Duerer (or Dürer - the two orthographies are equivalent) was a prolific German painter and woodcarver. He left us about 125 paintings, over 1,000 woodblocks, about 350 drawings and some hundred copper engravings. He was born in 1471 and died in 1528.
The portrait he made shows us an older man dressed in a white tunic, a black mantle and an ochre bonnet. Although this must be a wealthy man, he wears no jewellery, nor expensive clothes.
Surely you didn't pick the American Ben Bernanke (born 1953) for a painting made in 1518? Ben Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in February 2006.
John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was an American tycoon, founder of the eponymous bank in 1895. He was instrumental in advising some famous mergers and acquisitions (for example the merger which created General Electric in 1892, and the merger creating US Steel in 1901). Morgan was also known as an art collector.
Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934) was a French banker, of the famous Rothschild family. He left the banking business pretty much to his associates and family members, and started an impressive art collection.
None of these bankers were born in 1518. The portrait Duerer made can thus only depict the fourth given option, Jacob II Fugger (nicknamed "The Wealthy"). Jacob II Fugger (1469-1525) came from a family of weavers. However, by 1500 Fugger's company was the most important trading company and bank worldwide. Fugger bribed some Kings to influence the election of Charles V as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Answer: Gustave Eiffel

You all know the "Statue of Liberty", of course. It shows us a woman in Greek attire holding a flaming torch in her right hand and a tablet with the date "July 4th, 1776" in her left hand. The Statue was meant to commemorate the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July, 1776, but was only completed with a delay of ten years.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) was a French sculptor. Besides the famous Statue, he also made a giant lion in a rock near Belfort, France (watching over the French-German border) and a monument to the Marquis de Lafayette.
Sebastien le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban (1633-1707) was a French marshal and architect. He constructed several new fortifications and upgraded some hundreds of old fortifications. Twelve of his fortifications were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a Swiss painter. He left us some Expressionist, Cubist and Surrealist works.
Victor Horta (1861-1947) was a Belgian architect. His buildings in Art Nouveau style include the Hotel Tassel, the Hotel Solvay and the Hotel Van Eetvelde, all in Brussels.
The inner framework for "The Statue of Liberty" and the design for the Eiffel Tower were two masterpieces of Maurice Koechlin (1856-1946), chief engineer of the Eiffel construction company. However, it is Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) who takes full credit for these two constructions.

Answer: Marcus Aurelius

Filarete (1400-1469) was an Italian sculptor. He created the bronze doors for Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, but did not quite obtain the intricate quality of the bronze doors made by his tutor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) for the Baptisterio in Florence.
The original statue is the only bronze statue in Rome to have survived from Antiquity. Nowadays it is preserved in a museum near the Capitoline Hill, where it was situated all the time. (The statue outside on Capitoline Hill is a modern replica).
If you have carefully read the phrase about the "Good Emperors", I'm sure you have not picked Caligula. As far as historians know, he was the only one to consider himself a good being... His official name is Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, but the third Emperor of Rome is commonly denoted as Caligula - after his childhood habit of always wearing soldier boots (caligae in Latin). 'Little Boot' was born in 12 AD and became Emperor in 37 AD. Then four years of madness started. Caligula once made his horse Senator. He had innumerable people executed, until the Praetorian Guard decided they had enough. In 41 AD, Praetorians killed Caligula and pronounced Claudius the new Emperor.
Justinian (full name: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus) was born in 483 AD and died in 565 AD. He was Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, not of Rome. During his reign, the Byzantine Empire recaptured large parts of Italy, but Justinian did not succeed in retaking the city of Rome.
Commodus (161-192) was a Roman Emperor on whom historians have divided views. Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (as was his full name) started his reign rather well, but soon appeared not very interested in state matters. Some of his entourage took command and intrigued against Commodus, who replied with harsh executions. Later on he performed as a gladiator in the arena - quite shocking, isn't it? I don't want to see Obama in the arena...
Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was the last of the "Good Emperors" of the Antonine family tree. He instituted new laws protecting slaves and widows. Marcus Aurelius is also known for his philosophical diary "Meditationes".

Answer: Girolamo Savonarola

Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517, born della Porta) was an Italian friar and painter. He painted mostly religious scenes.
The portrait is that of a Dominican friar (dressed in black) against a black background. Only part of the friar's face shows (en profile), for his head is covered by a black hood.
All the people mentioned in the option list were at one time condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, albeit not always for the same reason.
Wycliffe (1328-1384) was an English theologian. He leaded a group of people who translated the Bible into English - one of the very first Bible translations in the vernacular tongue. Wycliffe came in conflict with the Church as he opposed the accumulation of wealth in the convents and cloisters. He also propagated that the Church should only deal with spiritual affairs, whilst the secular government should rule earthly matters. Wycliffe died from a stroke in 1384. In 1415, he was declared a heretic and his books were publicly burnt.
Hus (1370-1415) was a Czech theologian. He knew Wycliffe's works and supported Wycliffe's theses. But Hus did much more than Wycliffe: he also condemned the Pope for taking up a crusade. Hus declared that the Pope should pray for his enemies, in accordance to Christ's example, and not to start any violence. Finally Hus was condemned as a heretic and burnt at the stake.
Zwingli (1484-1531) was a Swiss priest. He is considered one of the great reformers (together with Luther and Calvin), as he opposed almost every ritual in the Catholic Church that was not based upon the Bible. Zwingli opposed to the use of images, the veneration of saints, and to the practice of tithing, to name only a few of his grudges against Roman Catholicism. Zwingli died in a battle near his hometown Zurich in 1531.
The portrait made by Fra Bartolomeo shows us Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498). In 1491 he was appointed prior of a convent near Florence. In the conflict between the Florentine Republic led by the De' Medici family and France, Savonarola chose to support the French King Charles VIII. When Charles took Florence, Savonarola manoeuvred himself into the head of the Florentine Republic and tried to construct a community in strict observance of the Bible. All the earthly luxuries (cosmetics, fine dresses, non-religious books and artworks, mirrors ...) were burnt publicly. Meanwhile Savonarola chose to disregard every comment the Pope made on this behaviour. Eventually Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Savonarola, and the Florentine people rebelled against the friar. On May 23, 1498, Savonarola was executed by hanging over a large fire.

Answer: Hans Holbein the Younger

Henry VIII (1491-1547) became King of England in 1509. His six wives were respectively Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536, divorced), Anne Boleyn (1507-1536, beheaded), Jane Seymour (1509-1537, died as a consequence of the complications of childbirth), Anne of Cleves (1515-1557, divorced), Catherine Howard (1520-1542, beheaded) and Catherine Parr (1512-1548, the only widow of Henry VIII). I haven't found official Holbein portraits of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn nor Catherine Howard, but I suppose there should have been portraits of these three as well. Maybe the portraits of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were destroyed when these two queens were convicted of treason and adultery.
The portrait of Henry VIII shows us a man dressed in fashionable attire with very rich embroidery. Although his portrait was made when he was 45 years of age, he seems a bit younger. He wears a nicely trimmed blonde beard and a tiny blonde moustache. You can tell from this portrait that Henry VIII never suffered hunger - quite the contrary, I dare say.
John Constable (1776-1837) was a British landscape painter. As far as my research stretches, he never made any portraits, let alone portraits of people who died long before his time.
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) was a British Impressionist painter. Most of the Impressionists were French painters, but some foreigners living in or around Paris took up with this new style as well: the Brit Sisley, the Dane Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), and the American Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), to mention the most famous.
Charles Eames (1907-1978) was not a painter, but an American architect. He left us (among other works) the IBM Pavilion at the New York's World Fair in 1964 and the eponymous wooden "Lounge Chair".
Did you wonder why a German painter is given in this list? Well, it's simply because it was Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) who did make the portraits of Henry VIII and some of his family members. During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, travelling was risky business, but the major artists did travel to complete their masterpieces. It was no exception that a foreign artist was appointed as court painter. Other famous examples are Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), the Antwerp court painter of King Charles I of England; Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Antwerp court painter of Vincenzo of Gonzaga (Italy) and of King Philip IV of Spain; and Titian (1487-1576), the Venetian court painter of King Philip II of Spain.

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

Isozaki (born 1931) is a Japanese architect. One of his masterpieces is the Art Tower in Mito, Ibaraki (Japan).
The chair Isozaki designed in 1973 has a very high back, somewhat curved (if you see it in profile. Seen from up front, the curving doesn't attract any attention). It was designed for use in a Japanese bank company.
Meg Ryan (born 1961), an American actress, debuted in 1981. Isozaki did not know her yet in 1973.
Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992, born Maria Magdalena von Losch) was a German actress who adopted the American nationality. Her best known role is "Lola" in "Der blaue Engel" (1930). As far as I know, no chair has ever been named after her.
Mae West (1893-1980) was an American actress, notorious for roles as a "femme fatale". She gave her name to an inflatable life-vest. The Spanish artist Salvador Dali made in 1937 a "Mae West Lips Sofa", in the shape of tingled lips.
Isozaki was inspired by Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jean Baker, 1926-1962). Some movies in which this actress starred: "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953), "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953), "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and "Some Like It Hot" (1959).

Answer: Edouard Manet

The USS Kearsarge was a sloop of war hunting down the CSS Alabama to avenge the several merchant ships the Alabama had sunk. In June 1864, the Kearsarge met with the Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France. The Kearsarge was victorious.
The painting shows us two sailing ships trying to outmanoeuvre each other whilst firing from all cannons. According to the painting, the smaller of the two ships is winning the battle. But history teaches us otherwise: the two ships had almost the same dimensions, but the Kearsarge had heavier armour, whilst the Alabama had stronger guns.
Surely by now you have discovered that these questions are in alphabetical order of the artists to whom I refer.
Théeodore Géricault (1791-1824) was a French painter, best known for his canvas "The Wreck of the Medusa".
Emile Gallé (1846-1904) was a French glassblower working in Art Nouveau style. Typical of his are vases decorated with flowers.
Gustave Doré (1832-1883) was a prolific French illustrator. Rumour has it that he completed about 10,000 illustrations, mostly for various books (the Bible, the "Divina Comedia" by Dante, "Don Quixote" by Cervantes, "The Tempest" by Shakespeare...)
Edouard Manet (1832-1883) painted "The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama". It is quite exceptional that an Impressionist depicted a historic scene, but Manet also did another one: the "Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico". Manet is of course best known for his paintings "Luncheon on the Grass" and "Olympia", both of which shocked the Parisian art critics.

Answer: Hans Memling

Tommaso Portinari (1432(?)-1501) was a Florentine banker and diplomatic envoy to Bruges. He married Maria Maddalena Baroncelli (1456-1495). The "Portinari Triptych" was painted around 1470, probably as a wedding gift. Incidentally, there is also a Portinari altar painted by Hugo van der Goes (1440-1482) some years after Portinari's marriage.
George Minne (1866-1941) was a Belgian sculptor. He designed a "Fountain with Five Kneeling Youth" in Brussels, near the seat of the federal Parliament. Besides statues, he also created some hundreds of drawings.
Constantin Meunier (1831-1905) was a Belgian artist. He started painting, especially industrial sites with hard labourers (coal miners, steel workers). When he had completed some of these labourers' portraits, he felt the urge to make three-dimensional icons of the labourers. So he took up sculpting. One of his iconic statues is the "Bag Bearer" near the Antwerp City Hall, an ode to dock labourers.
Joan Miro (1893-1983) was not a Belgian painter, but a Spanish artist. He worked in bright colours. Typical of his style is the pamphlet "Aidez l'Espagne" ("Help Spain"), showing us a human figure with raised fist. This pamphlet served to collect money for the Spanish Republicans during the Civil War against the troops of General Franco.
It was Hans Memling (1433-1494) who completed the "Portinari Triptych". Memling was a prolific painter, who left us artworks as the "Saint Ursula Shrine" and the "Triptych of the Family Moreel".

Answer: Martin Luther King

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was a German architect, one of the prominent members of the Bauhaus school for architecture. In 1938 he migrated to the USA and adopted the American nationality.
The library to which I refer, is the only public library ever built by Mies van der Rohe. It resembles a typical modern office building: a rectangular block of four storeys, all of them with many rectangular windows.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a French novelist, playwright and philosopher. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, but refused to collect it.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Bojaxhiu (1910-1997). She was an Albanian nun who founded a missionary order in Calcutta (India), where she took care of the poor during more than 45 years. Mother Teresa was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) was an Austrian zoologist. He is best known for his experiments with geese, concluding that wild goslings consider the first moving object they see as their mother. Lorenz obtained the Nobel Prize for Physiology (Medicine) in 1973.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was an American Baptist Minister. He was the most prominent advocate of equal rights for African-Americans. All his life, he propagated non-violent actions. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The library built by Mies van der Rohe was dedicated to Martin Luther King. The full name of this public library is the "Martin Luther King Memorial Library".

Answer: John Everett Millais

The Huguenots were the French Protestants during the Sixteenth until Eighteenth Centuries. Saint Bartholomew's Day (August 24th) became a historic date in 1572: Catholics massacred everyone they suspected of Huguenot sympathies. Thousands of people died in Paris and in other French cities.
The painting shows us a young man saying farewell to his girl-friend. I think this woman is only the girl-friend of the man, for the man doesn't wear any ring, and the woman wears a ring on her left hand. Both are dressed in black, in the typical outfit of the late Sixteenth Century. The scene takes place just before an ivy-grown brick wall.
Inigo Jones (1573-1652) was an English architect, who built the "Queen's House" in Greenwich and the "Banqueting House" at Whitehall.
Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was a British painter. His best known picture is the "Study after Velazquez' Portrait of Pope Innocent X".
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an American architect. His buildings try to blend in with the natural surroundings. A typical example is the "Falling Water House", built over a natural waterfall.
Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. The members of this Brotherhood rejected academic art and stressed simplicity and sincerity.
Other paintings by Sir John Everett Millais include "Christ in the House of His Parents" and "Ophelia".

Answer: Alphonse Mucha

In February 1861 Czar Alexander III proclaimed the abolition of serfdom in Russia. This didn't however improve living conditions for most peasants: instead of being the property of the landlords, they became very much indebted to their landlords...
The picture shows us the Kremlin in a hazy sunrise, and many commoners assembling before these buildings - hoping to find a paid job.
Christo Javacheff (born 1935) is known under his first name only. This American artist of Bulgarian descent is famous for his "wrapping art": he wraps buildings, islands, et cetera, in large foil. A typical example is the wrapping of the Berlin Reichstag in 1995.
Otto Dix (1891-1969) was a German Expressionist painter. He combined different techniques in his artworks, for instance by completing a painting in tempera and oil paint. Some titles: "Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harding" (1926) and "Metropolis" (1928).
Asger Jorn is the artist's name of Asger Jorgensen (1914-1973), a Danish painter. He was one of the leading members of the group Cobra - an association of Abstract painters living in Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam (hence the name Cobra).
The only Czech given in these options is Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), best remembered for his billboards in Art Deco style (see for example his poster for "Biscuits Lefevre Utile").

Answer: The School of Athens

Rafaello Sanzio (1483-1520) is one of the greatest Italian artists. He is commonly referred to by his first name only.
Raphael and his pupils decorated four rooms in the Vatican with different paintings. Each option I gave is one of the paintings by Raphael decorating one of the different rooms.
"The Fire in the Borgo" decorates the Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo. If you understand a few words of Italian, you'll see that this room (stanza) was in fact named after the main painting "The Fire in the Borgo". The Borgo is a district in Rome on the west bank of the Tiber, near the Vatican City. The fresco by Raphael shows us how a number of nude males flee for a raging fire in one of the houses in this district. It refers to a historic fire in 847, which (according to legend) was confined by the blessing of Pope Leo IV.
"The Vision of the Cross" decorates the Stanza Constantina (the room of Constantine). Central in this overcrowded painting is a Roman general (Constantine the Great) who looks up to the sky and sees a red cross appearing in the clouds. It refers to the historic episode preceding the Battle at the Pons Milvius (312 AD), in which Constantine defeats the revolting general Maxentius. According to tradition, Constantine had a vision stating "With this sign you'll win" and showing a cross. Constantine had crosses embroidered on the flags he used, and proclaimed freedom of religion (also for Christians) after the victory.
The "Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple" is the main decoration of the Stanza Eliodoro. According to the apocryphal works (2 Maccabees 3), Heliodorus was an envoy of the Syrian King Seleucas. Heliodorus intended to rob a treasure from the Temple in Jerusalem, but God sent three people to get rid of Heliodorus before the theft could take place. The painting by Raphael depicts quite literally the text of this apocryphal scene: "For there appeared to them a horse, with a terrible rider upon him, adorned with a very rich covering: and he ran fiercely and struck Heliodorus with his fore feet, and he that sat upon him seemed to have armour of gold. Moreover there appeared two other young men, beautiful and strong, bright and glorious, and in comely apparel: who stood by him, on either side, and scourged him without ceasing with many stripes." As you might understand, the Stanza Eliodoro was named after this painting.
The Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signature) was the room in which Pope Julius II held his tribunal. One of the four frescoes decorating this room is "The School of Athens": a Greek hall in which several philosophers meet. There are 21 people depicted, including the most prominent Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno of Citium, Pythagoras and Epicurus, but also the Arab philosopher Averroes. Some contemporary artists were used as models for the classical philosophers: for example, Michelangelo is depicted as Heraclitus, Bramante as Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci as Plato.

Answer: Pythagoras

The painting represents an old man giving directions to half a dozen fishermen preparing to set sail. In the background, there is a sunrise which might indicate a storm is about to hit the coast. This painting dates from 1662.
Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) was an Italian painter fascinated by Greek and Roman history. Other paintings of his include "The Death of Socrates", "Diogenes Casting Away His Cup" and "The Oath of Catiline".
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) was one of the major Greek philosophers. His mind was occupied with logic, metaphysics, zoology, rhetoric and other subjects, but I haven't found any comment of his on right triangles.
Archimedes (287 BC - 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician. He is best remembered for the eponymous law on floating objects ("Any body wholly or partially immersed in a fluid experiences an up thrust equal to, but opposite in sense to, the weight of the fluid displaced.") and of his calculations of the surface of circles.
Euclid (living around 300 BC) is nicknamed "the father of geometry". He started out with a few axioms (suppositions that cannot be proven) to construct adequate proof of a coherent geometry. For many centuries, the geometry taught by Euclid was the only geometry acceptable for mathematicians.
The theorem on right triangles is a theorem constructed by Pythagoras (ca. 575 BC - ca 500 BC). This mathematician dealt with musical intervals and with right triangles, of which he proved that the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other sides. The Pythagorean Theorem might be not the most complex component of trigonometry, but it sure causes headaches for many modern math students...

Answer: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Aristide Bruant (1851-1925) was born into nobility, but decided to choose a different occupation. He started singing in different Parisian night clubs, and finally opened one himself ("Le Mirliton"). He was usually dressed in black, with a long red scarf. The poster to which I refer, shows us this typical apparel of Bruant's.
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was not a French painter, but an English graphic artist. His best known works are series of satirical paintings on actual society issues: "The Rake's Progress" and "Marriage à la Mode" as series of paintings and "The Harlot's Progress" and "Industry and Idleness" in engravings only.
Henry Van de Velde (1863-1957) was a Belgian architect. Some of his Works include the "Boekentoren" in Ghent and the "Werkbund Theater" in Cologne.
Philippe Starck (born 1949) is a French designer and architect. He designed the headquarters of Asahi Breweries in Tokyo as well as a number of typical chairs (all eponymous).
The French painter and night club visitor we were looking for, is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), a former nobleman who loved to depict the nightlife in the Parisian outskirt Montmartre. His typical subjects are can-can dancers (La Goulue, Jane Avril) and prostitutes (although there might not have been a grand difference at that time).

Answer: Vincent Van Gogh

This painting exists in two versions. Both show us a man with a moustache, sitting at a table and leaning on his right elbow. In his left arm he holds foxglove, a plant that causes digitalis.
The two versions only differ in the colours used. One version shows a bright red table and a dark blue background, the other shows a yellowish table and a bluish night sky as background.
Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909) was a French physician who specialised in the treatment of mental illnesses. He was very popular in the Impressionist milieu, and made some amateur paintings in Impressionist style.
Diane Arbus (1923-1971, born as Diane Nemerov) was an American photographer. One of her best known works is the photo of "Identical Twins: Roselle, New Jersey, 1967".
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was the very successful producer of animated movies. Every one of you will recognise "Steamboat Willy"(1928), "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"(1937), "Fantasia" (1940) or "The Lady and the Tramp" (1955).
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1898) was a French Impressionist painter. Typical paintings of his include "Yerres River, Effect of Rain" (1875) and "View of Roofs, Snow Effect" (1877). His total production approaches 500 paintings.
The Dutch painter who created the most expensive portrait of a doctor ever made, was Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). He is notorious for several paintings that were auctioned at astronomical prices ("Sunflowers", "L'Arlesienne", "A Pair of Shoes", "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" - all well above 5 million dollars). However, during his lifetime he could only sell one painting, for a modest price.

Answer: Paolo Veronese

The Battle of Lepanto opposed naval units from Venice, Spain, Genoa, Savoy, Malta, Tuscany and the Papal States (together named the Holy Alliance) to the Turks. Don Juan of Austria commanded the Holy Alliance, which in fact was dominated by Venice. At the start of the battle the two fleets were approximately the same size, but the Holy Alliance outmanoeuvred the Turks and decimated their fleet. Estimated losses for the Holy Alliance were limited to seventeen ships, while the Turks lost about 183 ships.
David Hockney (born 1937) is a British painter who frequently depicts aquatic scenes. His works include "A Bigger Splash", "Man Taking a Shower in Beverly Hills" and "Pool with Two Figures". Apparently he has not made any historic scenes.
Pierre Alechinsky (born 1927) is a Belgian painter. He left us works such as "Sunset" and "Each Morning".
Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926) was a Spanish architect. He is best known for his unfinished work: the "Sagrada Familia" church in Barcelona.
It was Paolo Veronese (born Paolo Cagliari, 1528-1588) who painted the Battle of Lepanto. Veronese is better known for his mythological and religious paintings. His interest in religious paintings appears here in this historical setting also: Veronese depicts a very confused naval battle scene topped by a vision of a multitude of saints. The eye of the visitor is automatically attracted by the vision itself, so the battle that gave its name to the painting does not get the most attention...

Answer: Franz Xaver Winterhalter

The painting I refer to shows us a mother with child wooed by a noble suitor. This familiar event (perhaps a proposal to a young widow) may not have attracted much attention, but another event on the same day did make newspaper headlines: on this very same day the "Great Exhibition" opened in Crystal Palace, London.
One would expect some heroic scenes as in the paintings "The Second of May, 1808" and "The Third of May, 1808" (both by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, 1746-1828), but "The First of May, 1851" has quite a different theme. No rebellion here as in "The Second of May" nor the execution of rebels as in "The Third of May" - all is very quiet, violence is very much out of the picture.
Matthias Grunewald (born Nithart, 1470-1528) was a German painter, but he lived long before the date mentioned in this painting. He specialised in religious works. His masterpiece is the Isenheim altarpiece (1515).
Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531) was a German painter. He specialised in religious themes, for example a "Crucifixion Altarpiece". Furthermore he left us over 700 woodcuts, among which the first coloured woodcuts.
Max Ernst (1891-1976) was originally a German painter. In 1956 he adopted the French nationality. Some titles of his: "Ubu Imperator", "Murdering Airplane" and "The Elephant Celebes".
The painter we were looking for in this question is Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873), a Romantic painter who also portrayed Queen Victoria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Information in this quiz was found in the following online sources: the Webmuseum; Web Gallery of Art; Internet Movie Database; the Catholic Encyclopaedia; and Wikipedia. Furthermore, I have consulted the BBC television series "Private Life of a Masterpiece" and the Encarta encyclopaedia on CD-ROM as well as the following books: "Le Petit Larousse" (1993); "Verschueren Groot Encyclopedisch Woordenboek" (1996); "World History" by Carl Grimberg et alii (2004) and "7000 Years of World History" edited by Lekturama (1977).