Why were these Dutch ships a catch for Scarborough? The great British art quiz

Dutch Fishing Boats, 1860, by John Wilson Carmichael. Photograph: Scarborough Museums Trust

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from over 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 Scarborough Museums Trust. The trust manages Scarborough Art Gallery and the Rotunda Museum, built in 1829 and one of the world’s first purpose-built museums. Alongside works by Atkinson Grimshaw, William Etty, Matthew Smith and Frank Brangwyn and a lively contemporary art programme, the trust holds significant natural and social history collections, dinosaur footprints, artefacts from the world-famous Star Carr archaeological site and the remains of Gristhorpe Man – one of the most important bronze age burials ever discovered.

You can see art from the trust on Art UK here. Find out more on the Scarborough Museums Trust website.

1. 

   John Atkinson Grimshaw’s depiction of the night the Spa Saloon burnt down is regarded as one of the collection’s most iconic paintings. What does the Latin phrase ‘Sic transit gloria mundi’ mean?

   1. The die is cast

   2. Thus passes worldly glory

   3. Tragic loss of such beauty on Monday

   4. Through adversity to the stars

2. 

   The Scarborough-born artist Frederic Leighton was one of the most celebrated painters during his lifetime. This work, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1863, depicts a scene from the Old Testament’s story of Jezebel and Ahab being confronted by the prophet Elijah. Which famous 19th-century actress was the head of Elijah based on?

   1. Clara Fisher

   2. Ellen Terry

   3. Fanny Kemble

   4. Sarah Siddons

3. 

   A prolific sculptor of portrait busts, Kathleen Scott’s pair of arms may have been the inspiration behind the striking portrait bust of which famous Irish writer?

   1. George Bernard Shaw

   2. WB Yeats

   3. James Joyce

   4. George Moore

4. 

   This painting by maritime artist John Wilson Carmichael depicts Dutch fishing boats in the harbour at Scarborough. What type of catch would bring Dutch fisherman to the Yorkshire coast annually?

   1. Cod

   2. Lobster

   3. Herring

   4. Mackerel

5. 

   William Henry Forester Denison, Earl of Londesborough (1834 –1900), was a British peer and represented Scarborough as a Liberal MP. Which one of his children spent time in prison?

   1. William Henry Francis Denison, 2nd Earl of Londesborough 

   2. Lady Ida Emily Augusta Denison

   3. Lady Mildred Adelaide Cecilia Denison

   4. George Frederick Arthur Denison

6. 

   This early painting by Christopher Nevinson gives little hint as to his later artistic leanings. For which international artistic movement of the early 20th century did Nevinson become England’s only representative?

   1. Futurism

   2. Vorticism

   3. Expressionism

   4. Fauvism

7. 

   A member of the Staithes Group, Ernest Dade studied at Scarborough School of Art. Founded in 1882, the school became renowned for its teaching, and Scarborough continued to be a centre for art education, famous for its North Riding Summer Schools in the 1950s. Which artist became a regular tutor?

   1. Richard Hamilton

   2. John Piper

   3. Mary Martin

   4. Victor Pasmore

8. 

   Another Yorkshire-born Victorian painter, William Etty, was known to paint very quickly. For this reason the students at the Venice Academy gave him a nickname. What was it?

   1. Il Primo (The First)

   2. Il Maestro (The Master)

   3. Il Velocista (The Sprinter)

   4. Il Diavolo (The Devil)

Solutions

1:B - In the early 17th century, natural mineral waters were discovered in Scarborough. Within decades, Scarborough became a place to "take the waters". By the 18th century, Scarborough’s reputation as a spa town grew, leading to the town's claim to be England's first true seaside resort. A Victorian painter known for his atmospheric moonlit paintings, Grimshaw often visited Scarborough in the summer, regularly renting a house which he called Castle-by-the-Sea.

 Image: Sic transit gloria mundi (The Burning of the Spa Saloon), 1876, John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893), Scarborough Museums Trust , 2:C - The model was Leighton's friend, the actress Fanny Kemble. Although unusual for a woman to pose as a male figure, Leighton would have used the drawing to set the male model for the figure of Elijah in the final painting. Fanny Kemble came from a famous theatrical family and was the niece of the celebrated actress Sarah Siddons. The study for Elijah’s head is in the Tate’s collection. 

 Image: 
Jezebel and Ahab, c.1863, Frederic Leighton (1830-96), Scarborough Museums Trust, 3:A - A friend of many literary and political figures, Scott produced two busts of WB Yeats, but it is her bust of Bernard Shaw at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum that sees him holding his head in his hands. Scott studied at the Slade School of Art and later, in Paris, was mentored by Auguste Rodin. She is often referred to in the context of her husband, Robert Falcon Scott (‘Scott of the Antarctic’). 

 Image: Pair of Bronze Arms, c.1929, Kathleen Scott (1878-1947), Scarborough Museums Trust, 4:C - For several hundred years, Dutch fishing boats would traditionally visit Scarborough each year to catch herring. These visits became a cultural event and Scarborough hosted celebrations to welcome the Dutch fishermen, becoming a popular annual Dutch festival with its heyday from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

 Image: Dutch Fishing Boats, 1860, John Wilson Carmichael (1799-1868), Scarborough Museums Trust, 5:B - Lady Ida Emily Augusta Denison married Sir George Sitwell in 1886. In 1915, Sitwell refused to pay off her many creditors and she was prosecuted and imprisoned in Holloway jail for three months. Sir George and Lady Ida’s children included the writers Edith and Sacheverell Sitwell. Edith Sitwell was born at Woodend in Scarborough, the house next door to the earl’s Scarborough residence, Londesborough Lodge.

 Image: William Henry Forester, First Earl of Londesborough, 1901, Ernest Normand (1857-1923), Scarborough Museums Trust, 6:A - Futurism was launched by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909 who published his Manifesto of Futurism on the front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. Nevinson befriended Marinetti and the radical writer and artist Wyndham Lewis, and became an exponent of futurism. He fell out with Lewis and other 'rebel' artists when he attached their names to the futurist movement. Lewis immediately founded the vorticists, excluding Nevinson. Image: 

Elizabeth Darley, c.1900, Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889-1946), Scarborough Museums Trust , 7:D - Exponents of the Basic Design Movement (Tom Hudson, Harry Thubron, Wendy and Victor Pasmore) ran the summer schools in Scarborough organised by North Riding Education Authority. The Basic Design Movement challenged traditional, academic methods practised in schools of art in the early and middle 20th century and became a model for the newly introduced pre-diploma courses, which we now know as foundation courses and work on similar lines today. Image: 

Trawlers Waiting for their Crews, 1893, Ernest Dade (1868-1936), Scarborough Museums Trust , 8:D - Following a spell as a pupil of established portrait painter Thomas Lawrence, Etty made two visits to Italy. On his second visit he arrived in Venice at the end of 1822, intending to spend 10 days studying artworks there. He fell in love with the city and stayed seven months, completing around 50 oil paintings. Image: 

Man Lying Face down, c.1820, William Etty (1787-1849), Scarborough Museums Trust

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Scarborough rock

2. 0 and above.

   Scarborough donkey

3. 3 and above.

   Scarborough fair