Where did the artist paint this picture? The great British art quiz

The Weary Waste of Snow (c1898) by Joseph Farquharson (1846–1935). Photograph: Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections

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 Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. The gallery is home to one of the finest collections in the UK, with works by historic and contemporary Scottish artists, designers and makers such as Henry Raeburn, Joan Eardley, Samuel Peploe, Rachel Maclean and Bill Gibb, as well as internationally acclaimed artists including Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin and Claude Monet. It reopened in 2019 following a landmark redevelopment.

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

1. 

   Auguste Rodin created the first version of the sculpture L'Homme qui Marche (The Walking Man) in 1877. The version in Aberdeen was made in 1951 and is the last cast from Rodin’s original mould. Who does the sculpture represent?

   1. Samuel Stockton White III, an American gymnast and bodybuilder

   2. St John the Baptist

   3. Rodin’s brother

   4. David

2. 

   Artist Joseph Farquharson was nicknamed Frozen Mutton for his frequent subject choice of sheep in the snow near his family home in Finzean, Aberdeenshire. Where was Farquharson when he painted these pictures?

   1. In a woodshed

   2. In his studio

   3. In a caravan

   4. In the open air

3. 

   Art critic William Feaver once called Joan Eardley’s seascapes “spuming escarpments”. What is the Italian word to describe the technique Eardley used when she applied paint thickly to the surface of her canvas?

   1. Chiaroscuro

   2. Sfumato

   3. Impasto

   4. Pentimento

4. 

   In 1912, John William Waterhouse sold this recently completed painting to Aberdeen Art Gallery. Which character from Greek mythology is depicted here?

   1. Athena

   2. Eurycleia

   3. Calypso

   4. Penelope

5. 

   Aberdeen-born portrait painter George Jamesone is the first Scottish figure to emerge in the 17th century as an individual artistic personality. Which of the following has he been flatteringly described as?

   1. The Scottish Lely

   2. The Scottish van Dyck

   3. The Scottish Rubens

   4. The Scottish Velazquez

6. 

   This is a self-portrait by Aberdeenshire-born artist James McBey. He is associated with a revival in interest in which art form in the early 20th century?

   1. Sculpture

   2. Etching

   3. Photography

   4. Painting

7. 

   To Pastures New was painted by Scottish artist Sir James Guthrie in 1883. It is one of the most popular paintings in Aberdeen Art Gallery’s collection. How old was Guthrie when he painted it?

   1. 23

   2. 33

   3. 43

   4. 53

8. 

   Which French neoclassical painter first inspired artist Alison Watt during childhood visits to the National Gallery, London?

   1. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

   2. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

   3. Charles Thevenin

   4. Jacques-Louis David

Solutions

1:B - Rodin was inspired to create this figure of a religious subject invested with natural physicality after a trip to Italy in 1875, during which he encountered a peasant named Pignatelli, saying, "I was filled with admiration; this rough, hairy man expressed violence in his bearing ... yet also the mystical character of his race." Image: L'homme qui marche (1877) by Auguste Rodin (1840–1917); Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 2:C - Farquharson’s caravan was a horse-drawn mobile shed, complete with a large viewing window and a stove to keep him warm. He also commissioned a flock of imitation sheep that he could place in the landscape, free from worry that they would wander off and ruin his composition. Image: The Weary Waste of Snow, Forest of Brise, Aberdeenshire (c1898) by Joseph Farquharson (1846–1935); Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 3:C - The thick paint can be mixed directly on the canvas, with the artist’s brush or knife strokes clearly visible, adding texture and energy. Eardley often painted outside in all weathers in the remote Aberdeenshire fishing village of Catterline, perfectly capturing the wildness of the North Sea. Other artists notable for their use of the impasto technique include Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock and Frank Auerbach. Image: High Tide, a Winter Afternoon (1961) by Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–63); © the artist’s estate, all rights reserved, DACS 2020/Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 4:D - In Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey, Penelope was determined to stay faithful to her husband, Odysseus, during his long absence at war. When the painting was purchased, some Aberdonians criticised it for its high price, irrelevant theme and historically inaccurate detail. Today it is a much-loved visitor favourite. Image: Penelope and Her Suitors (1912) by John William Waterhouse (1849–1917); Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 5:B - A now discounted tradition had it that Jamesone, like Anthony van Dyck, trained with Rubens, accounting for his nickname. Jamesone’s earliest patrons were the merchants and academics of Aberdeen, then the nobility of the north east. From 1633, he was working in Edinburgh and painted a series of imaginary portraits of historical monarchs as decorations for the triumphal entry of Charles I. Jamesone was highly celebrated in his lifetime. Image: Self Portrait (1637) by George Jamesone (c1589–1644); Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 6:B - During the 1920s print boom, McBey’s etchings fetched prices only previously achieved by old masters. Etching uses chemical action to produce incised lines in a metal printing plate, which hold applied ink to form the image. Self-taught, McBey learned etching from a library book, making his first print using his grandmother’s mangle. He lived a life of art and adventure, including working as an official war artist and society portraitist. Image: Self Portrait (1952) by James McBey (1883–1959); © the artist’s estate, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 7:A - Guthrie was a leading member of a group of young, mainly Scottish, artists who rose to prominence in the 1880s. The Glasgow Boys claimed to be anti-establishment, rejecting the older generation, whom they called “Glue-Pots”, for their formulaic landscapes and Victorian narrative subjects. The young artists were inspired by their contemporaries in the Dutch Hague and French Barbizon Schools, choosing to paint scenes of rustic realism in the open air. Image: To Pastures New (1883) by James Guthrie (1859–1930); Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, 8:B - Born in 1965 in Greenock, Alison Watt studied at Glasgow School of Art. Her work has been influenced by the sensuous nature of the exquisite fabrics featured in Ingres’ celebrated 19th-century portraits of women. In Rivière, the figure is suggested only subliminally and the fabric that once surrounded it is now the principal subject. Image: Rivière (2000) by Alison Watt (b1965); © the artist, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Congratulations – you certainly know your art.

2. 0 and above.

   Well, you showed up – and that counts for something.

3. 3 and above.

   Not too great, but not a complete disaster either.