Where in Britain is this painting set? The great British art quiz

Flowing to the Sea, 1871, by John Everett Millais. Photograph: Southampton City Art Gallery

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 Southampton City Art Gallery, which holds one of the finest collections of art in the south of England. Comprising more than 5,000 art works and spanning eight centuries, the collection is an outstanding educational resource that can trace the history of European art from the Renaissance to the present day; at its core are British 20th-century and contemporary art.

You can see art from Southampton City Art Gallery on Art UK here. Find out more on the gallery’s website here.

1. 

   Which birthday did the Southampton City Art Gallery celebrate last year?

   1. 70th birthday

   2. 80th birthday

   3. 90th birthday

   4. 100th birthday

2. 

   Southampton’s collection includes paintings by the following pre-Raphaelite artists, but which one was born in Southampton?

   1. John Everett Millais

   2. William Holman Hunt

   3. Edward Burne Jones

   4. Ford Madox Brown

3. 

   Which Shakespeare play does this painting by Ford Madox Brown depict?

   1. The Tempest

   2. Hamlet

   3. King Lear

   4. Henry V

4. 

   Giuseppe Arcimboldo was best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects. Which of the following did not appear in any of his paintings?

   1. Fruit

   2. Fish

   3. Fire

   4. None of the above – they all appeared in his portraits

5. 

   Who is depicted in this painting by Malcolm Drummond?

   1. Spencer Gore

   2. Harold Gilman

   3. Charles Ginner

   4. William Ratcliffe

6. 

   An X-ray has revealed that in an earlier version of The Holy Family by Jacob Jordaens, the infant Jesus is holding a small bird in his right hand. Which bird is it thought to be?

   1. Robin

   2. Goldfinch

   3. Woodpecker

   4. Lark

7. 

   Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion is based on the eighth story of which book?

   1. Arabian Nights

   2. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

   3. The Tales of the Genii

   4. The History of James Lovegrove, Esquire

8. 

   Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La Celle-St-Cloud is by which impressionist artist?

   1. Claude Monet

   2. Alfred Sisley

   3. Camille Pissarro

   4. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Solutions

1:B - After local councillor Robert Chipperfield left provision in his will for the construction of Southampton City Art Gallery, it opened its doors to visitors on 26 April 1939. Chipperfield made a substantial bequest to the city he called his home: 'My fervent desire is, and my executors aim shall be, the furtherance and encouragement of Art, in the town of my adoption – Southampton … I authorise my Executors to build an Art Gallery which shall be free to the public, as soon as funds will permit.' Image: Robert Chipperfield, JP, Leonard Frank Skeats (1874–1943). Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery., 2:A - Millais was born on 8 June 1829 in Southampton. He spent most of his early childhood in Jersey being encouraged by his mother to explore his artistic abilities. He later formed the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood along with Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Flowing to the Sea was painted during a visit to Waulkmill Bay in Orkney in 1871 and features the artist’s daughter-in-law along with soldiers from the 42nd Highland regiment, the Black Watch. Image: Flowing to the Sea, 1871, John Everett Millais (1829–1896). Photo credit: Southampton City Art Gallery. , 3:C - Cordelia’s Portion depicts the first scene of King Lear, in which the monarch divides his realm according to how much each of his three daughters loves him. His favourite, Cordelia, seen standing on the right, declares: 'I love your majesty according to my bond; no more nor less.' This is taken as a lack of affection and she finds herself disinherited as the kingdom is given to her sisters. Image: Cordelia’s Portion, Ford Madox Brown (1821–93). Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery., 4:D - The works of Renaissance court painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593) were both admired and discounted by his contemporaries. He painted portraits composed of such things as fruit, flowers, fish, animals and books, incorporating monarchic symbols to identify the sitter. Summer, part of his Four Seasons series, is made up of plums, pears, peaches, figs, pomegranates and a watermelon, all in various stages of ripeness and decay. Image: Summer, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, c 1570. Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery., 5:C - This is a portrait of Drummond’s (1880–1945) friend and fellow Camden Town Group member, Charles Ginner (1878–1952). Both artists were known for their realist scenes of city life and landscapes painted in post-impressionist styles. Here we see a relaxed and well-dressed Ginner leaning nonchalantly, cigarette in hand, in front of one of his own paintings, which was inspired by the work of Van Gogh, who they both admired. Image: Charles Ginner, 1911, Malcolm Drummond. Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery; © the copyright holder., 6:B - An X-ray carried out by the National Gallery revealed a number of pentimenti within the original composition of the painting. Jordaens (1593–1678) had started with a youthful Joseph who was positioned much closer to Mary. Her head and the direction of her gaze was also altered quite dramatically. The small bird in Jesus’ hand is believed to be a goldfinch, which symbolises the passion and his crown of thorns. Image: The Holy Family, Jacob Jordaens. Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery. , 7:C - The painting is based on a story from Tales of the Genii, by James Ridley, in which Sadak is sent to find the memory-destroying 'waters of oblivion' in order to save his wife. He has almost reached his goal but clings, exhausted, to a precipice. Artist John Martin (1789–1854) places this small figure at the bottom of the canvas to highlight the scale of the landscape and of the task ahead. Image: Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion, 1812, John Martin. Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery., 8:B - Sisley (1839–99) was a painter of rural landscapes, taking his subject matter from the villages surrounding Paris that were gradually becoming suburbs of the city. Depicting a former royal hunting forest, this painting, dated 1867, owes more to the influence of the Barbizon school, but the awakening of impressionist ideas is hinted at in the dappled brushwork of the foliage and the subtle rendering of light and shade. Image: Avenue of Chestnut Trees at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 1867, Alfred Sisley. Credit: Southampton City Art Gallery.

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   You're a Southampton genius

2. 0 and above.

   Better luck next time!

3. 3 and above.

   Not half bad!