How long did it take Ulysses to get home? The great British art quiz

Ulysses and the Sirens, 1909, (c1950). Creator: Herbert James Draper. Photograph: The Print Collector/Alamy

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from over 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 Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. The Ferens Art Gallery has one of the finest regional art collections in the country. Opened in 1927, the Ferens is one of eight sites that comprise Hull Museums, operated by Hull Culture and Leisure Limited since 2014. Collection strengths include European old masters from the 14th century onwards – especially Netherlandish 17th century, maritime painting and 20th century British art.

You can see art from Ferens Art Gallery on Art UK here. Find out more on the Ferens Art Gallery website here.

1. 

   In what year was this visitor favourite painting by Antonio Canaletto created?

   1. c.1714

   2. c.1724

   3. c.1754

   4. c.1794

2. 

   This fresh and airy beach scene was painted by British artist Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942). The title is Boulogne Sands, but what is the additional description included in its full title?

   1. Cockle Pickers

   2. French Cricket

   3. En Plein Air

   4. Children Shrimping

3. 

   Which of the Scottish Colourists painted this still life?

   1. FCB Cadell

   2. JD Fergusson

   3. Leslie Hunter

   4. SJ Peploe

4. 

   John Ward (1789–1849) is the finest of Hull’s School of Maritime painters. Who is the hero associated with the infamous disaster that befell this ship in 1838?

   1. Grace Darling

   2. George Cammell

   3. Andrew Marvell

   4. William Lee

5. 

   Which native of Hull gifted this self portrait by ex-Slade professor Frederick Brown (1851–1941) in 1949?

   1. Ettie Ferens (TR Ferens’ wife)

   2. Muriel Thetis Warde

   3. Lord Duveen of Millbank

   4. Sir Frank Brangwyn

6. 

   With which French artist did Gwen John (1876–1939) have a love affair?

   1. Auguste Maillard

   2. Virgine Demont-Breton

   3. Henri Laurens

   4. Auguste Rodin

7. 

   How long did this ancient warrior, Ulysses, take to get home?

   1. Six months

   2. One year

   3. Five years

   4. Ten years

8. 

   One of the most popular paintings in Feren’s collection is a huge canvas called The Lion at Home, 1881, by Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). By what feline nickname is the local football team Hull City known?

   1. The Tigers

   2. The Lions

   3. The Pussycats

   4. The Cheetahs

Solutions

1:B - This view was painted early in Canaletto’s artistic career. The treatment shows less of his characteristic concern for topographical accuracy and more for drama as bright sunlight is threatened by storm clouds creating sharp contrasts of light and shade. The canvas betrays the influence of his father, a theatre set designer, with whom he initially trained. Later works became lighter, larger in scale and more even in tone and treatment. Image: The Grand Canal, Venice, Looking North East from the Palazzo Balbi to the Rialto Bridge, c.1724, Canaletto (1697-1768), Ferens Art Gallery, 2:D - In the early 1880s Steer studied in Paris where he was influenced by the work of the French Impressionists. When he returned to England in 1884 he painted a series of beach scenes and coastal views with broken dabs and dashes of luminous colour suggesting bright, translucent light. Although his style was influenced by French Impressionism this picture also draws from a tradition of similar pictures, especially JMW Turner’s Shrimpers, of 1827 (Bury Art Gallery). Image: Boulogne Sands (Children Shrimping), 1891, Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942), Ferens Art Gallery, 3:D - Though never exhibiting as a group during their lives the four artists now known as the Scottish Colourists used bright colour and created painterly canvases reflecting the influence of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Peploe spent extended periods in Paris before the outbreak of the first world war. This later still life shows the continuation of one of favourite themes. Image: Martagon Lilies, late 1920s, Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935), Ferens Art Gallery, 4:A - This was the first work by Ward to enter the Ferens collection in 1936. The Forfarshire traded between Hull and Dundee but two years after being launched in Hull she was spectacularly wrecked off the Northumberland coast. Grace Darling and her father rescued some of the passengers and crew from a rowing boat. Her bravery became the subject of Victorian legend. Darling died of tuberculosis aged 26. Image: PS ‘Forfarshire’ Leaving Hull for Dundee, 19th century, John Ward (1798-1849), Ferens Art Gallery, 5:C - Joseph Duveen, later Lord Duveen of Millbank, was born in Hull and became a significant 20th century benefactor to the Tate and the British Museum. He came from a Dutch Sephardic Jewish family that emigrated and established a prosperous import business in the city. Duveen went on to become one of the world’s leading art dealers supporting building projects at the British Museum and the Tate. The background of Brown’s portrait contains an early self-portrait by his now far better-known student, Gwen John, that is now held in the Tate Britain. Image: Portrait of the Artist, 1926, Frederick Brown (1851-1941), Ferens Art Gallery, 6:D - John had love affairs with both men and women throughout her life but her relationship with Rodin was the longest and most significant. During her lifetime her artistic reputation was overshadowed by that of her brother, Augustus John, and her lover, Auguste Rodin, but has risen steadily since her death. Her small, subtle and intense portraits of women in interiors, painted in chalky, muted tones, are now celebrated internationally. Image: The Seated Woman, c.1910-1920, Gwen John (1876-1939), Ferens Art Gallery, 7:D - Ulysses and the Sirens, by Herbert Draper (1864-1920) depicts one of many incidents from the hero's 10-year journey home to Ithaca as described in the Greek poet Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The Sirens were mythical creatures whose enchanting singing lured sailors to shipwreck off the rocky coast of their island. Image: Ulysses and the Sirens, c.1909, Herbert James Draper (1864-1920), Ferens Art Gallery, 8:A - Hull City Association Football Club traditionally play in a black and amber shirts and black shorts, often with a striped shirt design, hence the nickname The Tigers. In 2013 club owner Assem Allam attempted to officially change the club name to Hull Tigers, a move met with opposition by the fans and the FA. Image: The Lion at Home, 1881, Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), Ferens Art Gallery

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Hull's bells! You're an art expert.

2. 0 and above.

   You went to Hull and back ... but it didn't get you a very high score.

3. 3 and above.

   Not a bad effort at all.