Saintly and Secular Trivia Quiz

Answer: Titian Vecelli

Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516) was Titian's (c.1488-1576) teacher and painted many portraits of the Virgin Mary. Tintoretto (1518-1594) was very briefly the student of Titian and is known for his paintings in St. Mark's in Venice. Veronese's (c.1528-1588) "Feast in the House of Levi" was originally a painting of the Last Supper; it was so scandalous that the Inquisition charged him with heresy (1573), he got away with it by changing the title to 'Feast in the House of Levi'.

Answer: Saint Lawrence

Architects Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera designed the Escorial in the shape of a grid, St. Lawrence's method of martyrdom. Philip II commissioned the building in thanks for his victory in the battle of San Quentin (1557), in which his troops destroyed a small hermitage dedicated to St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence was martyred under Valerian in 258 and may have been the keeper of the holy grail; St. James (the Greater) is one of the patron saints of Spain and was martyred under Herod Agrippa in 44; St. Ignatius (Loyolla) was the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and died in 1556; St. Turibius (of Mongrevejo) died in 1606 and was a Spanish judge at the court of the Inquisition, he also championed AmerIndian rights.

Answer: Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1589-1680) was a sculptor and architect whose works include "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa" and the piazza and colonnades of St. Peter's Basilica. His baldacchino is over 30 meters tall, is supposed to be the largest bronze structure in the world, and the bronze was said to have been taken from the ceiling of the Pantheon (although this is disputed). Berrecci (1480-1537) architect and sculptor, worked in Poland; his most famous work is probably Wawel Castle in Krakow. Brunelleschi (1377-1446) designed the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Bramante (1444-1514) designed St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Answer: Tenebrism

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) painted 'The Calling of St. Matthew' between 1599 and 1600 at the height of his powers, using the new technique of tenebrism (Italian for murky) a heightened form of chiaroscuro where the light comes from a single defined source. Sotto in su refers to painting ceilings in perspective and was probably first used by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) at Camera degli Sposi in Mantua. Verdaccio is underpainting in a grayish-green that is very good for flesh tones and was used by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) on 'The Mona Lisa'.

Intonaco refers to the special wet plaster mix created by Jacopo l'Indaco for the frescoes by Michelangelo (1475-1564) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Answer: Rococo

Designed by Johann Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753), the German Baroque architect who fused Italian, French and Austrian styles to create his rococo masterpiece dedicated to the Fourteen Holy Helpers, built on the spot of a shepherd's vision of these saints. Romanesque is typified by Durham Cathedral. Perpendicular is typified by Winchester Cathedral. Gothic is typified by The Cathedral of Notre Dame De Paris.

Answer: The Queen's House, Greenwich

Castle Howard was designed c.1699 by Sir John Vanbrugh (c.1664-1726), Chatsworth House was designed c.1685 by William Talman (1650-1719) a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, and Mansion House, London (official residence of the Lord Mayor of London) was designed 1739 by George Dance the Elder (1695-1768).

Answer: Portrait painting

Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) was a German painter who painted many portraits in the court of Henry VIII, notably of Thomas More and Jane Seymour. He died of the plague while painting another portrait of Henry VIII.

Answer: Anthony Van Dyck

Pieter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted the ceiling of The Banqueting House at the Palace of Westminster in 1635, Frans Hals (c.1580-1666)painted 'Portrait of a Young Man' in 1624 which became known as 'The Laughing Cavalier', Jan Van Eyck (c.1385-1441) was, perhaps, the first commercially successful portrait painter in the early 15th century working as artist, scientist, diplomat for Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy.

Answer: Nicholas Hawksmoor

Nicholas Hawsmoor (c.1661-1736)was Wren's student and worked on St. Pauls' and Hampton Court Palace with him. Robert Adams (1728-1792) designed Kenwood House, Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) designed the Cenotaph, John Nash (1752-1835) designed The Marble Arch and was one of the designers of Buckingham Palace.

Answer: William Hogarth

Hogarth (1697-1764) was also, perhaps, one of the first 'cartoonists' in the modern sense with 'The Harlot's and 'The Rake's Progress'.
Gainsborough (1727-1788) was a noted English portrait painter and painted 'The Blue Boy', Francisco Guardi (1712-1793) a noted Italian painter, moved from religious subjects to painting 'everyday life' such as 'The Lagoon Looking towards Murano from the Fundamente Nuova', Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) painted such works as 'Pierrot' from commedia'del'arte as well as religious and 'mythical' works.