How did 'Mam Cymru' dispatch lovers she was bored with? The great British art quiz

Katheryn of Berain (1540/1541-91), ‘The Mother of Wales’, 1568, by Adriaen van Cronenburgh (c.1525-c1604). Photograph: Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from more than 3,000 venues and by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions.

Today, our questions are set by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. Located in Cardiff’s civic centre, National Museum Cardiff has 24 art galleries that tell the story of art in Wales and Europe. It houses five hundred years of magnificent paintings, drawings, sculpture, silver and ceramics and contemporary art from Wales and across the world, including one of Europe’s best collections of Impressionist art.

You can see art from the collection on Art UK here, and find out more on Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales here.

1. 

   In this iconic painting by Thomas Jones, the last of the Welsh bards is shown poised on the edge of the cliff, persecuted to his death by Edward I, king of England, and his troops. Who wrote the 1757 poem that inspired this painting?

   1. Thomas Chatterton

   2. Thomas Gray

   3. Thomas Godfrey

   4. Thomas Moore

2. 

   Hill of Hurdles is a 2010 work by Clare Woods inspired by the landscape around which famous Welsh waterfall?

   1. Water-Hurt-Its-Back

   2. Water-Stub-Its-Toe

   3. Water-Break-Its-Neck

   4. Water-Twist-Its-Knee

3. 

   Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones is reported to have ceremonially buried a tube of paint in his garden. Why?

   1. He believed it to be an ancient cure for gout (when accompanied by three sprigs of sage)

   2. He found out that the paint in the tube was made from ground up Egyptian mummies

   3. The colourant used in the paint was an earth pigment; best stored beneath the ground to maximise vibrancy

   4. The colourant was made from ground up madder root and he hoped a tree would grow from it

4. 

   A well-known eccentric, Sir John Pryce of Newtown Hall, Montgomeryshire, married three times. What did his third wife insist he remove from his bedroom before their marriage?

   1. His pet monkey

   2. His Chippendale writing table

   3. The embalmed body of his previous wife

   4. A feather bed

5. 

   Bridget Riley, whose work Kashan was acquired by Amgueddfa Cymru in 1999, was both the first British artist and the first woman artist to win the International prize for painting at the Venice Biennale. In what year?

   1. 1962

   2. 1964

   3. 1966

   4. 1968

6. 

   The Cardiff-born sculptor Edith Downing is a rare example of a successful female sculptor working in the early 20th century. Following her efforts in 1912, she was awarded a medal. What was this for?

   1. Order of the British Empire

   2. The Hunger Strike Medal for valour

   3. The National Eisteddfod Medal for art

   4. Member of the British Empire

7. 

   Tudor noblewoman Katheryn of Berain married four times. She had so many children and grandchildren that she is known today as Mam Cymru – the Mother of Wales. According to folklore, how would she dispatch her lovers once she’d tired of them?

   1. By poisoning their pudding

   2. By staging an archery accident

   3. By pushing them into a snake pit

   4. By pouring molten lead into their ears

8. 

   Rain, Auvers was one of the last works painted by Vincent van Gogh before he died on 29 July 1890. It entered Amgueddfa Cymru’s collection in 1952, as part of a major bequest by two sisters from mid-Wales renowned for their collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works. What were their names?

   1. Gwendoline and Mary Davies

   2. Gwyneth and Mary Davies

   3. Gwyneth and Margaret Davies

   4. Gwendoline and Margaret Davies

Solutions

1:B - The Bard is a Pindaric ode written by English poet Thomas Gray (1716-71). The poem imagines the final moments of the last bard of Wales. The bard turns to place a curse on Edward and his reign and prophesies the return of Welsh rule before throwing himself into the river Conwy. The painting has taken on iconic significance in Wales. The artist Thomas Jones considered this his best work.
 Image: The Bard, 1774, Thomas Jones (1742-1803), Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales, 2:C - Woods often focuses on the overlooked elements of the landscape – from stagnant pools to thick undergrowth. Locations are photographed at night and collaged to create the painting’s final composition. The high-gloss finish contributes to Woods’ description of her work as ‘supernaturally charged’. Water-Break-Its-Neck is located in Warren Wood, in Radnor Forest. 

 Image: Hill of Hurdles, 2010, Clare Woods (b.1972), © the artist. Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales, 3:B - Edward Burne-Jones had intended to become a church minister, but after returning from a trip to France with his close friend William Morris, they decided to dedicate their lives to art. ‘Mummy brown’, also called Egyptian brown, was one of the favourite colours of the Pre-Raphaelites, the group Burne-Jones was associated with.

 Image: Venus Discordia, 1873, Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98), Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales​ , 4:C - This painting was probably made to celebrate John Pryce’s controversial marriage in 1737 to Mary Morris, a farmer’s daughter, who died in 1739. In a thousand-line elegy he affirmed that with his last breath he would continue to ‘lisp Maria’s name’. He kept her embalmed body in his bedroom until his remarriage in 1741. 

 Image: The Marriage of Sir John Pryce (d.1761), c.1740, British School, Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales , 5:D - Riley introduced colour into her work in the late 1960s, and the 'Egyptian palette' of this work reflects the brilliant colours of Egyptian tomb paintings seen by the painter in 1979. The title refers to the Iranian province of the same name and a traditional centre of the silk trade. ​​

 Image: Kashan, 1984, Bridget Riley (b.1931) © the artist. Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales, 6:B - Artist and suffragette Edith Downing was arrested for the second time in March 1912 for breaking the window of a London art dealer’s shop. While in prison, she went on hunger strike and was force-fed. To mark this (and her bravery) her medal bears the inscription “Fed by Force 1/3/12”.

 Image: Sulks, Edith Downing (1857–1931). Photograph: Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, 7:D - This is just one of the colourful legends associated with Katheryn of Berain, probably stemming from the fact that she outlived three of her four husbands. This portrait was painted in the Netherlands, where Katheryn had moved with her second husband, Richard Clough, who was royal agent to Queen Elizabeth I. The skull on which her hand is placed is a memento mori device.

 Image: Katheryn of Berain (1540/1541-91), ‘The Mother of Wales’’, 1568, Adriaen van Cronenburgh (c.1525-c.1604), Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales , 8:D - The sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies amassed one of the great British art collections of the 20th century. They bequeathed 260 works to the National Museum Wales in 1951 and 1963, including works by Monet, Renoir and this painting by Van Gogh. By doing so they transformed the collection’s character, quality and range. They were the granddaughters of David Davies of Llandinam, who made his fortune through industry.

 Image: Rain, Auvers, 1890, Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Da iawn!

2. 0 and above.

   Siomedig - Lle i wella

3. 3 and above.

   Gweddol dda