What is Hercules up to? The great British art quiz

Definitely not horseplay ... painting by Charles Le Brun, 1638-1642. Photograph: Nottingham City Museums

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

Today, our questions are set by Nottingham City Museums, whose collection of more than 800 oil paintings includes many important gems. Amassed since Nottingham Castle became an art gallery in 1878, the collection reflects the tastes of curators and donors over the past two centuries, representing artistic movements from the Renaissance to the present day.

You can see art from Nottingham City Museums on Art UK here. Find out more on its website here.

1. 

   William Nicholson (1872-1949) painted this Indian cavalry sergeant in 1915. What type of bird is depicted at his feet?

   1. A female duck

   2. A partridge

   3. A pheasant

   4. A juvenile chukar partridge

2. 

   Which circus did Dame Laura Knight spend two years travelling around Britain with in 1929, when she was in her 50s?

   1. Billy Smart’s Circus

   2. Carmo’s Circus

   3. Moscow State Circus

   4. Uncle Sam’s Great American Circus

3. 

   In what decade was this painting created?

   1. 1900s

   2. 1920s

   3. 1930s

   4. 1950s

4. 

   Which staircase was copied in this 19th-century depiction of Mary, Queen of Scots, as she was led to her execution, by Laslett John Pott?

   1. Wollaton Hall

   2. Newstead Abbey

   3. Hardwick Hall

   4. Fotheringhay Castle

5. 

   This work is titled Hercules Vanquishing Diomedes, by the French artist Charles Le Brun. Hercules was set 12 tasks by the gods in penance for the crime of killing his children, after he was driven mad by the goddess Hera. Which task does this painting depict?

   1. Eighth

   2. Twelfth

   3. Fourth

   4. Seventh

6. 

   Marion Adnams painted this work in 1968. Which 20th-century art movement was she associated with?

   1. Surrealism

   2. Abstract impressionism

   3. Postmodernism

   4. Cubism

7. 

   Which art group did Evelyn Gibbs found in Nottingham in 1943?

   1. Nottingham City Artists

   2. Midland Group

   3. Nottingham Artists

   4. Artists in the Midlands

8. 

   What is the significance of the hibiscus flower in this painting by Victorian artist William Ranken?

   1. Misfortune

   2. Fleeting wealth

   3. A symbol of male beauty

   4. It is used as an artistic devise to contrast with the sitter’s green pantaloons

Solutions

1:D - This bird is the national bird of present-day Pakistan and was widely kept as a pet in the area where Nicholson painted this portrait (once part of northern India). These birds apparently become very tame and follow their owners around. The sitter was Duffadar Valayat Shah, orderly to Viscount Hardinge of Penshurst, viceroy of India. Nicholson chose to paint Shah because his portrait of the viceroy was not a success. Image: The Viceroy’s Orderly (Ruftadur Valayar Shah), 1915, William Nicholson. Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 2:B - Knight was fascinated by circus performers and their way of life. She painted on the spot, capturing moments both in and out of the ring. When she was working on this painting, an acrobat tumbled into her, knocking the painting over, so she learned to work quickly and started painting directly on to the canvas without making sketches first. Image: Elsie on Hassan, 1929-30, Laura Knight. Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 3:B - Born in London, Mark Gertler was the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. He was influenced by post-impressionism, but his style was highly individual, with strong elements of eastern European folk art. This small oil on wood portrait is typical of his use of a simple, flattened style and is similar in composition and background colour to Head of a Basque Shepherdess in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. Image: Head of a Boy, 1922, Mark Gertler. Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 4:C - As Fotheringhay Castle (where Mary Queen of Scots was executed) was destroyed in the 1600s, Pott used another genuine Tudor setting, the staircase at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. Pott was born and raised in Nottinghamshire, and specialised in historical paintings with emotionally laden narratives that catered to the preferences of middlebrow Victorians. Image: Mary, Queen of Scots, Being Led to Her Execution, 1871, Laslett John Pott (1837-1898). Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 5:A - The ferocious horses of King Diomedes of Thrace were fed on the human flesh of any unexpected visitor to his island. Hercules killed King Diomedes, tamed the horses and fed the King’s flesh to them. Originally painted for the palace in Paris of Louis XIII’s chief minister Cardinal Richelieu, Le Brun used the strength of Hercules as an allegory of Richelieu's power. Image: Hercules Vanquishing Diomedes, 1638-42, Charles Le Brun (1619-90). Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 6:A - This is the last painting that Adnams completed before she lost her sight. Modelled on three aspects of the same stone that Adnams had in her collection, it uses a motif frequently employed by the surrealists for its strong metaphorical value: the repeating of an image which can serve at once to reinforce and fragment it. Image: Three Stones, 1968, Marion Elizabeth Adnams (1898-1995), © the artist’s estate. Credit: Nottingham City Museums., 7:B - Gibbs was a lecturer at Goldsmiths College of Art in London, which was evacuated to Nottingham at the beginning of the second world war. Gibbs found beauty in the city. Industrial View wonderfully captures the colours and texture of an industrial urban landscape. Image: Industrial View, 1953, Evelyn Gibbs (1905-91), © the artist’s estate. Credit: Nottingham City Museums. , 8:C - Ranken was an Edwardian aesthete and this portrait is believed to be a celebration of male beauty. Noted for his paintings of sumptuous interiors and elegant portraits of society figures and aristocracy, Ranken painted another work owned by Northampton Museums & Art Gallery using the same male model, Portrait of an Anglo-Indian Student. Here he is more exuberantly dressed in pantaloons against a rich patterned background. Image: Hibiscus Flower, c1922, William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941). Credit: Nottingham City Museums.

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   A brush with gratness!

2. 7 and above.

   A great impression!

3. 6 and above.

   A good impression

4. 5 and above.

   A good impression

5. 4 and above.

   A decent impression

6. 3 and above.

   Could be worse…

7. 2 and above.

   Start brushing up!

8. 1 and above.

   Start brushing up!

9. 0 and above.

   Start brushing up!