Why has Mrs Letitia Sage put on her white fur mantle? The great British art quiz

Spectacularly dressed … Mrs Letitia Sage. Photograph: Science Museum Photo Studio/Science & Society Picture Library

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for Britain’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 Science Museum Group Collection. The Science Museum Group includes the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, the National Railway Museum in York, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, Locomotion in County Durham and the Science Museum in London. It cares for a national collection of 7.3m items, many related to science, technology and medicine. You can see art from the Science Museum Group Collection on Art UK here. Find out more on the Science Museum Group Collection website here.

1. 

   Which natural landmark does this railway poster advertise?

   1. Giant’s Causeway

   2. Fingal’s Cave

   3. Land’s End

   4. Mull of Kintyre

2. 

   Artist and astronomer James Nasmyth (1808-90) was the first person to see what on the surface of the sun?

   1. Sunspots

   2. Prominences

   3. Granulations

   4. Canals

3. 

   Shown in a first world war munitions factory, what were these hard-working women colloquially known as?

   1. Ducks

   2. Finches

   3. Wrens

   4. Canaries

4. 

   What common Christian imagery is artist Gilbert Daykin (1886-1939) evoking in this painting of The Miner Enslaved?

   1. The Agony in the Garden

   2. The Annunciation

   3. The Crucifixion

   4. The Resurrection

5. 

   What famous event does this painting commemorate in the life of Mrs Letitia Sage?

   1. Being the first woman to ride in a hot air balloon

   2. Inventing the steam carriage

   3. Giving birth to rabbits

   4. Designing a revolutionary hat

6. 

   How many dogs are there in this scene at Kings Cross station, London, painted in the 1890s?

   1. 15

   2. 18

   3. 20

   4. 22

7. 

   This painting by Edward Frederick Skinner (1865-1924) shows women at work file-cutting in a Sheffield steel mill. For what reason was it commissioned?

   1. As a gift for the retiring company manager

   2. To encourage women to join the war effort

   3. To commemorate workers who died at the mill

   4. To raise money for the Red Cross

8. 

   Herbert W Garratt came up with his design for an articulated locomotive while working in South America, but which island state bought the first Garratt?

   1. Greenland

   2. Iceland

   3. Tasmania

   4. Sri Lanka

Solutions

1:A - Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971) vividly captures The Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This painting was created around 1927 for a London Midland & Scottish Railway poster. It is one of thousands of posters and poster designs in the Science Museum Group Collection. Wilkinson most famously invented ‘dazzle’ camouflage as a means to protect British shipping during the first world war. Image: © the Norman Wilkinson estate. National Railway Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 2:C - Nasmyth made his fortune as an engineer and is best known for inventing the steam hammer. But he was also an accomplished artist and astronomer. He was the first to observe that the Sun has an uneven surface – what we now call granulation – in 1861. He made careful paintings like this from his observations to share what he called the Sun’s ‘willow-leaf’ pattern with the scientific community. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 3:D - Forbes shows female workers making 4.5-inch shells at the Kilnhurst Steel Works of John Baker and Co in Rotherham. The company commissioned this scene ‘to produce a memento for our women workers’ and each of them received a framed copy. They were nicknamed ‘canaries’ because of the distinctive yellow colouring of their hair and skin caused by the sulphur used in the production of munitions. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 4:C - Daykin worked at a pit near Sheffield and produced vivid paintings showing the physical work of mining. He remained a miner despite his artistic success and was killed in 1939 in a mine shaft accident. Here Daykin depicts the miner in the position of Christ on the cross, chained to the seam wall, his pick on the ground beside him, with the scene lit by his lamp. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 5:A - Spectacularly dressed in a white fur mantle, hat and half-veil, Mrs Sage proudly commemorates her role as "the first English female aerial traveller". In homage to her beauty, Vincenzo Lunardi invited her to join his balloon ascent on 29 June 1785 from St George’s Fields, London, offering to take her into the "blue Paradisian skies". The party of four proved too heavy for the balloon and two others had to withdraw. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 6:C - George Earl (1824–1908) shows a busy platform scene as a train of East Coast Joint Stock carriages is prepared for departure. You can see groups of passengers and their servants, including a ghillie, an Indian ayah, grooms and footmen. Twenty hunting dogs roam around, including spaniels, setters and pointers. Luggage includes fishing tackle, golf clubs and guns. Beneath the shed roof you can spot advertisements for the Daily Telegraph and Pears Soap. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 7:D - Skinner produced six paintings recording the contribution of Cammell Laird and Co to steel processing and armaments manufacture during the first world war. They were among a set of 20 commissioned from artists for reproduction as postcards for public sale, in aid of the British Red Cross. File Cutters is the original for postcard No 9 showing women cutting rat-tail files at the Cyclops Steel and Iron Works. Image: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, 8:C - Garratt was a locomotive inspector and amateur artist. The mountainous terrain of South America inspired his design for an articulated locomotive that worked more efficiently on tight, steep curves. He painted this picture of the first Garratt-type locomotive before it had been built and used an engraving of the image on his business stationery. Manchester engineers Beyer, Peacock & Co built more than 1,000 Garratts between 1908 and 1958. Image: Museum of Science & Industry/Science & Society Picture Library

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Blue Paradisian skies

2. 3 and above.

   You have achieved lift off – but there's more studying to do

3. 0 and above.

   Your results are full of hot air