Who is these girls' famous dad? The great British art quiz

Collection name - V&A ‘Portrait of the Painter’s Two Daughters’, 1758, Photograph: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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 Victoria and Albert Museum.

The V&A is a leading museum of art design and performance established in 1852 to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, its collections span more than 5,000 years of human ingenuity. See pieces from the V&A on Art UK here and find out more about the V&A here.

1. 

   This sitter of this portrait is believed to be Smeralda Bandinelli. Which artist painted her?

   1. Fra Filippo Lippi

   2. Giotto

   3. Sandro Botticelli

   4. Raphael

2. 

   In this Netherlandish rendering of The Adoration of the Magi, what gift is held by Saint Balthazar, King of Arabia?

   1. Myrrh

   2. Frankincense

   3. Bronze

   4. Gold

3. 

   Hester Booth is the subject of this portrait by John Ellys. What was she famous as?

   1. Dancer and actor

   2. Court jester

   3. Circus performer

   4. Opera singer

4. 

   These two girls are the daughters of which well-known English painter?

   1. John Constable

   2. Thomas Gainsborough

   3. Joshua Reynolds

   4. JMW Turner

5. 

   Ira Aldridge was a leading British stage actor and playwright. Here he is depicted in one of his most famous Shakespearean roles. Who is he playing?

   1. Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

   2. Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra

   3. Aaron in Titus Andronicus

   4. Othello

6. 

   Which famous stage actor is believed to be the author of this self-portrait?

   1. Ellen Terry

   2. Sarah Bernhardt

   3. Ada Ward

   4. Lily Elsie

7. 

   This is a portrait of which famous cultural figure?

   1. George Bernard Shaw

   2. Auguste Rodin

   3. Claude Monet

   4. John Singer Sargent

8. 

   This abstract composition is by which female painter?

   1. Bridget Riley

   2. Eva Hesse

   3. Helen Frankenthaler

   4. Agnes Martin

Solutions

1:C - This tempera on panel work is attributed to Sandro Botticelli, who made the most of his career in Florence under the patronage of the Medici. He was summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481, together with Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, to join Perugino in decorating the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The identity of the sitter is believed to be Smeralda Bandinelli, the wife of Viviano Bandinelli and grandmother of the 16th-century sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. Image: Portrait of a Lady (known as Smeralda Bandinelli), 1470s, Sandro Botticelli (1444/45-1510), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2:A - In this 16th-century depiction in the manner of Gerard David, the eldest king, Caspar, kneels at the child's feet offering gold. Behind him, Melchior offers frankincense while Balthazar holds the myrrh. An expensive item used as anointing oil, myrrh symbolised the future death of a king. Image: The Adoration of the Magi With Saint Margaret and a Nun, 16th-century, Victoria and Albert Museum, 3:A - Hester Booth was a leading dancer and actress on the London stage in the early 18th century. She was well known for her appearances as Harlequin, the commedia dell'arte character usually played by a man. She made her stage debut at Drury Lane theatre in 1706. This portrait is unsigned but is thought to be the work of John Ellys, a pupil of the artist James Thornhill. Image: Hester Booth (c1690-1773), painted c1722-25, John Ellys (c1701–57), Victoria and Albert Museum, 4:B - The celebrated 18th-century portraitist Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) painted his daughters several times. In this work, Mary (left) and Margaret (right) would have been about six and 10 years old respectively. They attended Blacklands School in Chelsea, London, where they learned to draw. Margaret became an accomplished amateur musician. Mary married the oboe player Johann Christian Fischer. After their father's death in 1788, the two sisters lived together. Image: Portrait of the Painter's Two Daughters, 1758, Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88), Victoria and Albert Museum, 5:D - Born in New York as Frederick William Aldridge, he emigrated to Liverpool in 1824 to escape persistent racial discrimination. In 1825, he made his first appearance at the Royal Coburg theatre in London (today the Old Vic). In 1833, Aldridge first played the character Othello, a role that would propel him to stardom. Aldridge became a huge success and toured Europe and Russia throughout the 1850s and 60s. Image: Ira Aldridge (1807-67), as Othello in Othello by William Shakespeare, c1848, Victoria and Albert Museum, 6:B - The French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), named by her fans the “Divine Sarah”, is considered to be the first international stage star. Bernhardt played some 70 roles in 125 productions in Europe, the US, Canada, South America, Australia and the Middle East. This oil portrait was apparently copied from a portrait photograph, showing Bernhardt in her preferred left profile. Image: Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), painted in 1896, attributed to Sarah Bernhardt, Victoria and Albert Museum, 7:B - John Lavery (1856-1941) was one of the leading artists of his day. He painted this portrait of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin during a fortnight in 1913 when Rodin was in London. The following year, Rodin gave 18 of his sculptures to the V&A in honour of the French and British soldiers killed in the war. Most of the works were bronzes, but there was also one marble and one terracotta. Image: Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), c1914, John Lavery (1856–1941), Victoria and Albert Museum, 8:C - Helen Frankenthaler was an American painter and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism. She experimented with methods of painting on unprimed canvases, including this 1964 oil wash on paper. Frankenthaler often used thin pigments, which she allowed to soak directly into the canvas, thus exploring the interface between image and surface. Image: Untitled, c1964, Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) © Estate of Helen Frankenthaler/ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   The “Divine Sarah"

2. 0 and above.

   Court jester

3. 3 and above.

   Circus performer