The Art History Game: Masters Level Round 1

True: The Dead of the Virgin by Caravaggio 1501-1606
The depiction of the Death of the Virgin caused a contemporary stir, and was rejected as unfit by the parish who commissioned it. Caravaggio didn’t make a representation of death, but a real death. The painting offends the sensibility not only of its own time, but of all times, because it is believed that the Virgin Mary didn't "die" but rather "ascended into heaven".
To make matter even worse: Contemporaries accused Caravaggio of modeling the Virgin Mary after a corpse of a dead prostitute well known in the community.
Even more strange: Caravaggio was also a convicted murderer!
This painting was rejected but Caravaggio is still regarded as one of the most important Baroque painters of all time.

The Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" in French, was a period in European history that spanned roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. It marked a renewed interest in classical art, literature, and philosophy after the Middle Ages. The Renaissance saw significant advancements in art, science, and culture, and it is considered a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

True: He killed a man in a pub brawl and was banished from Rome. Later when he cut a deal with the Pope to return to Rome, he died of malaria in the swamps walking back from Naples.

More on the painting:
Caravagio had a way of bringing religion and peagan gods down to earth in a real world way. In this is a painting of the conversion of Saul from the bible, the drama is internalized within the mind of Saul. He lies on the ground stunned, his eyes closed as if dazzled by the brightness of God's light that streams down the white part of the skewbald horse, but that the light is heavenly is clear only to the believer, for Saul has no halo. In the spirit of Luke, who was at the time considered the author of Acts, Caravaggio makes religious experience look natural.

The correct answer is The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck. This painting is known for its intricate details and realistic portrayal of the subjects. It depicts a wealthy couple standing in a room, with various symbolic objects surrounding them. The artist's attention to detail and use of light and shadow are characteristic of Jan van Eyck's style. The Milkmaid is a different painting by Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals is known for his portraits, and The Wedding Dance is a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a Post-Impressionist painter known for his vibrant depictions of Parisian nightlife in the late 19th century. He captured the energy and atmosphere of cabarets, dance halls, and theaters, often featuring performers like Jane Avril and Aristide Bruant. His unique style, characterized by bold outlines, flat colors, and a focus on movement and gesture, distinguished him from other artists of the period.

Correct answer: Edouard Manet - Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (English, "The Luncheon on the Grass") 1863. Nude women were always seen in art history as a Venus or Grande Odalisque, in this case, she is with two men in common day clothing and the illusion is lost and immediately awkward. This caused a lot of controversy and was the start of the Modern art movement. Look for more questions on this painting coming up in the game!

Answer: Neoclassical The "Oath of the Horatii" by Jacques-Louis David in1785. A style in European art and architecture from the mid 18th century until the end of the 19th century. Based as it was on the use of ancient Greek and Roman models and motifs, its development was greatly influenced by the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and by the theories of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768). Intellectually and politically it was closely linked to the Enlightenment's rejection of the aristocratic frivolity of Rococo, the style of the Ancien Régime. Among Neoclassicism's leading figures were the French painter Jacques-Louis David (1744-1825), the German painter Anton Raffael Mengs (1728-1729), and the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822).
(Source, Web Gallery of Art by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx)

TRUE: This is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and painted by Michelangelo. It is the image of the Prophet Isaiah turning his head to listen to an angel speaking in his ear.

Correct Answer: Diego Velazquez. Perhaps the preeminent Spanish artist of the seventeenth century, Velázquez was, from 1623 on, court painter to Philip IV in Madrid. In 1650 Velázquez was sent to Italy to buy paintings for one of his monarch's palaces; while in Rome the artist was commissioned to portray the Pope. The final version (now in the Galleria Doria, Rome) was preceded by several small sketches. Velázquez was given the unenviable task of depicting the most powerful and, according to contemporaries, the ugliest man in Rome. The artist was successful, for when the Pontiff saw the portrait he is said to have remarked, "troppo vero" (all too true!).

Answer: The style is Rococo and the painting is "The Swing" by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

A style of design, painting, and architecture dominating the 18th century, often considered the last stage of the Baroque. Developing in the Paris townhouses of the French aristocracy at the turn of the 18th century, Rococo was elegant and ornately decorative, its mood lighthearted and witry. Louis XV furniture, richly decorated with organic forms, is a typical product. Leading exponents of the Rococo sryle included the French painter Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), and the German architect Johann Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753). Rococo gave way to Neo-classicism.
(Source Web Gallery of Art, Europe)

Answer: True! LHOOQ by Marcel Duchamp in 1919 - Dada
The name of the piece, L.H.O.O.Q., is a pun, since the letters when pronounced in French form the sentence "Elle a chaud au cul", which can be translated as "She has a hot ass”.
Primary responses to L.H.O.O.Q. interpreted its meaning as being an attack on the iconic Mona Lisa and traditional art, thus promoting the Dadaist ideals. Perhaps Duchamp decided to use his ready-mades to not only critique established art conventions, but to also force the audience to put aside what they had thought before and look at something with a completely different perspective.
This also supports the theory of Post Modern art, where nothing is original, but only a recontextualizing of the past. Having said that, Duchamp was about 75 years ahead of his time.
(source: Kristina, Seekamp (2004). "L.H.O.O.Q. or Mona Lisa")

Giotto. These works done in just 1305 were two hundred years before England's Golden Age/ Renaissance. The Renaissance, span 1305 -1570s - the longest art movement in modern history.

The clogs and outdoor sandals which the couple have removed might be typical wedding presents, or represent the taking of shoes in a sacred precincts.

Answer: B,C,D,A,
Giotto, The Arena Chapel series, 1305
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo 1508-1512
Peter Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus 1618
Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David painted in 1785

Answer: Bird in Space by Constantin Brâncuşi in 1912. Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France and considered the pioneer of modernism - he was often called the Patriarch of Modern Sculpture. Also note, he seems incredible inspired by Cycladic art which flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from 3300 – 200BC.

Answer: True. Mark Rothko began working on this Chapel but didn't see its completion because he committed suicide in 1970. He sliced his arms with a razor and overdosed on anti-depressants.
The Rothko Chapel is located in Houston, Texas and for Rothko, the Chapel was to be a destination, a place of pilgrimage far from the center of art in New York where seekers of Rothko’s newly "religious" artwork could journey. Initially, the Chapel, now non-denominational, was to be specifically Roman Catholic, and during the first three years of the project (1964–67) Rothko believed it would remain so although Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz was of the Jewish faith. Thus Rothko’s design of the building and the religious implications of the paintings were inspired by Roman Catholic art and architecture. Its octagonal shape is based on the Byzantine church of St. Maria Assunta, and the format of the triptychs is based on paintings of the Crucifixion.
Today, devoted followers of Rothko still visit the chapel daily, and in some cases, still cry in front of his paintngs!

The Beanfest by Jan Steen (Northern Baroque painter and tavern owner)
In a seventeenth-century living-room, a cheerful company has assembled to enjoy the so-called 'Bean Feast on Twelfth Night' (the feast of the Epiphany, 6 January). In accordance with an old and widespread custom that still survives in many places, a bean was baked into a cake and the person who found it in their portion was given a paper crown and made king for the night, with the power to appoint companions to various positions, such as that of court jester. And whenever the king raised his glass, the others did the same, shouting out 'The king drinks!'
(source Web Gallery of Art)

Answer: Vincent Van Gogh was a Preacher before becoming a painter.
His dream was to be a preacher and his father agreed to let him follow his religious calling and sent him to Amsterdam to study for the entrance examinations to the University Theology course which, after 15 months of study, he failed, finding the work too arid, preferring to contemplate the countryside and the possibility of drawing.
He later set off for Borinage, near Mons, in Belgium, to live among the miners and, being refused a teaching job at the school, settled in the village of Paturages where he taught the Bible and cared for the miners at his own expense. With his father's help he was eventually appointed lay preacher in Wasmes. His great charity at this time, his life often being compared to that of St Francis of Assisi, with such actions as giving up his bed to a poor person and sleeping on the floor, soon brought him into conflict with the established Church, which was outraged by his conduct and he was forced to resign!
(Source "Vincent Van Gogh - Art Life and Letters", Bernard Zurcher, Thunder Bay Press, 1985)

Answer: Mystery and Melancholy of a Street by Giorgio de Chirico 1914
De Chirico was a pre-Surrealist painter who started a movement called Metaphysical art
His dream-like paintings of squares typical of idealized Italian cities, as well as apparently casual juxtapositions of objects, represented a visionary world which engaged most immediately with the unconscious mind, beyond physical reality, hence the name. The metaphysical movement provided significant impetus for the development of Dada and Surrealism.

Answer: The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault 1818-19.
Completed when the artist was just 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. It depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness.
(source "Géricault and His Work" by Berger, Klaus.)

Answer: Franz Kline, Chief 1950
He was an American painter mainly associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement and the N.Y. School centered around New York in the 1940s and 1950s.
While generally his paintings are dynamic, there seems to also be references to Japanese calligraphy, although he always denied that connection. Bridges, tunnels, buildings, engines, railroads and other architectural and industrial icons are often suggested as imagery informing Kline's work. He grew up near a railroad and wanted to convey the shear velocity of the train in his painting.

Answer: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi 1612-13 Italian Baroque painter & first successful woman painter
This was one of three paintings telling the story of the slaying of Holofernes. The story comes from the First Testiment in the Bible.

Answer:
The Gift by Man Ray 1921
American Gothic by Grant Wood 1930
Diego Rivera Detroit Industry 1933
Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange 1836

Blue Horses by Franz Marc 1911
Yes, he died on the front lines in WWl before the request from the Government to withdraw him from combat (because he was a talented artist) did not get to him in time.
No, he was not part of the N.Y. School. That started in NY during WWll in the 1940's.
Yes, he was the founding member of the Der Blaue Reiter Group along with Kandinsky.
Yes, he was a German Expressionist from Munich, Germany
No, he died in WWl, 40 years before Warhol and Pop Art movement.

Answer: Artemisia Gentileschi 1612-13
Yes she was the first master painter of the Baroque period
Yes she was gang raped by her instructors and she won in a court trail
No, her father (not mother) Orazio Gentileschi was a famous painter
Yes, she was a famous Baroque painter working from 1610-1650's
No, she was not Spanish or a court painter there. She was Italian and for period, a court painter to Charles I of England.

False: The title of this painting is "The Treachery of Images" by René Magritte 1928-1929
On the painting, in French, it says "This is not a pipe"