The great British art quiz: set by Museums Sheffield

Blade stunners: the Weston Park museum. Photograph: Museums Sheffield

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 will set the questions.

Today, our questions are set by Museums Sheffield, a charity that cares for the city’s collections of art, history and natural science. Its art includes British and European pieces from the 16th century to the present day, as well as works that directly illustrate the city’s history. Its strength lies in the modern British collection, which includes artists such as Frank Auerbach, Vanessa Bell, David Bomberg, Gwen John and Stanley Spencer.

You can see art from Museum Sheffield on Art UK here.

1. 

   Which British artist painted March Landscape?

   1. Eric Ravilious

   2. Stanley Spencer

   3. Paul Nash

   4. Vanessa Bell

2. 

   The Graves Gallery was built with the support of John George Graves and opened in 1934. In which industry did Graves make his money?

   1. Steel

   2. Railways

   3. Banking

   4. Mail order

3. 

   Which island is depicted here by Scottish colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883–1937)?

   1. Anglesey

   2. Iona

   3. Harris

   4. Skye

4. 

   Museums Sheffield holds one painting by the Spanish old master Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. When did Murillo live?

   1. 1617–1682

   2. 1580-1645

   3. 1480–1525

   4. 1701–1767

5. 

   A Corner of the Artist's Room in Paris depicts which artist’s room?

   1. Mary Adshead

   2. Gwen John

   3. Paula Rego

   4. Laura Knight

6. 

   What did Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu introduce to English society in the 18th century?

   1. The newspaper

   2. Chocolate

   3. Smallpox inoculation

   4. Semaphore

7. 

   JMW Turner painted The Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Mâcon around 1803. It depicts the festival that accompanied the grape harvest. Which location did Turner base the scene on?

   1. View of the Dordogne from Altillac, France

   2. View of the Thames from Richmond Hill, England

   3. View of the Tweed from Kelso, Scotland

   4. View of the Arno from Florence, Italy

8. 

   In this painting by Narcisse Chaillou (1837–1896) depicting the Siege of Paris in 1871, what is this young man doing?

   1. Making candlesticks

   2. Selling rats

   3. Making political pamphlets

   4. Carving furniture

Solutions

1:C - Painted during the second world war, March Landscape shows the view from Boar's Hill in Oxfordshire. Though the places Nash depicted are real, his works create a landscape of the imagination rather than factual representation. Nash studied at the Slade School of Art and he was an official war artist in both the first and second world wars. His work gradually became more introverted and surreal in the 1940s. Picture: March Landscape, 1944, oil on canvas, Paul Nash (1889–1946), Museums Sheffield, 2:D - John George Graves (1866-1945) established one of the UK’s first mail order companies, selling items as diverse as watches, tools and bikes. He gave generously to the city of Sheffield and in 1929 he offered it £30,000, specifying that £20,000 should be spent on a gallery. Graves was also a passionate art collector and donated more than 1,000 paintings to Sheffield’s collection, many of which are still on display. Picture: Dr John George Graves (1866–1945), oil on canvas, David Jagger (1891–1958), © the artist’s estate, Museums Sheffield , 3:B - Francis Cadell was one of four artists known as the Scottish colourists. Cadell was mainly based in Edinburgh, but often escaped to the Western Isles for some peace and quiet. He was inspired by the special light and atmosphere on these Scottish islands. He first visited Iona in 1912 and returned to paint there almost every summer until 1933. Picture: Iona, c.1925, oil on canvas, by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883–1937), Museums Sheffield, 4:A - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a leading Spanish baroque painter. He is best known for his religious painting, like the one in Sheffield’s collection, which was probably produced for private devotion. He also painted realist scenes of contemporary women and children, often beggars and street hawkers. In 1660, Murillo helped found Spain's very first arts academy, the Academia de Bellas Artes in Seville. Picture: The Infant Christ Asleep on the Cross, oil on canvas, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682), Museums Sheffield, 5:B - This painting depicts Gwen John's attic studio in the Rue du Cherche Midi in Paris. She wrote: "My room is so delicious after a whole day outside, it seems to me that I am not myself except in my room." John studied at the Slade School, London, before moving to Paris in 1904 to study under James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Here she worked as an artist's model posing for, among others, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, with whom she was in a relationship. Picture: A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, 1907–1909, oil on canvas, Gwen John (1876–1939), Museums Sheffield, 6:C - Lady Montagu travelled to Turkey in 1716, where she came across the practice of inoculation against smallpox. On her return to England, Lady Mary was instrumental in the promotion of inoculation. She had her daughter inoculated during the epidemic of 1721 and her actions persuaded a number of her circle to consider the procedure, including Caroline, Princess of Wales, later queen of England. Edward Jenner has historically been credited for creating the smallpox vaccination in 1796. Picture: Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (1689–1762), c.1718, oil on canvas, Jonathan Richardson the elder (1667–1745), Museums Sheffield, 7:B - Turner travelled to Mâcon in 1802, but despite the title of the painting it actually bears little resemblance to the scene Turner saw there. Mâcon is built on a flat plain with the river running in a relatively straight line past the town, rather than the dramatic curve the painting suggests. Turner based this scene on a view of the River Thames from Richmond Hill in Surrey, he did however, include the bridge of St Laurent which spanned the river Mâcon. Picture: The Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Mâcon, France, 1803, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), Museums Sheffield, 8:B - During the Siege of Paris, from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871, which brought about French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, the French people suffered great famine and poverty. This painting, completed after the events occurred, ironically shows a boy as an improvised butcher, selling rats on the streets of Paris. Picture: A Rat Seller during the Siege of Paris, 1871, oil on canvas, Narcisse Chaillou (1837–1896), Museums Sheffield

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   The biggest Sheffield-related triumph since Def Leppard ruled the charts. Up the blades!

2. 7 and above.

   The biggest Sheffield-related triumph since Def Leppard ruled the charts. Up the blades!

3. 6 and above.

   A highly creditable response showing steely resolve.

4. 5 and above.

   A highly creditable response showing steely resolve.

5. 3 and above.

   Sheffield culture to you means Arctic Monkeys – and fair enough.

6. 1 and above.

   Sheffield culture to you means Arctic Monkeys – and fair enough.

7. 2 and above.

   Sheffield culture to you means Arctic Monkeys – and fair enough.

8. 4 and above.

   A highly creditable response showing steely resolve.

9. 0 and above.

   Sheffield culture to you means Arctic Monkeys – and fair enough.