Midweek quiz: Portraits

Portraits Quiz

New research suggests artists painting the rich and famous simply depict their own facial features. A case in point is Godfrey Kneller - on the left is his depiction of George I, and right is a self-portrait. Test yourself on famous portraits.

Info

Elizabeth I depicted in 1565. Click NEXT to identify another portrait of the Virgin Queen.

1.) Multiple Choice Question

Which of these is also a portrait of Elizabeth I?

1. Left
   
2. Right
   
3. Both
   
4. Neither
   

2.) Multiple Choice Question

A triptych by Francis Bacon. Depicting whom?

1. Francis Bacon
   
2. His lover George Dyer
   
3. Fellow artist Lucian Freud
   

3.) Multiple Choice Question

This portrait is the subject of some debate as to the identity of the sitter. Who is he thought to be?

1. Bonnie Prince Charlie
   
2. Self-portrait of Gainsborough
   
3. William Pitt the Younger
   

4.) Multiple Choice Question

"It looked like a pork butcher from Norwich," said Rolf Harris about one of his portraits. Which?

1. Nelson Mandela
   
2. Queen Elizabeth II
   
3. Self-portrait in the style of Van Gogh
   

Info

The portrait marked the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006 and took two months to complete. "I'm not making any claims that this is the greatest painting in the world," said the smiling Harris of his smiling monarch. "I've done the best I can."

5.) Multiple Choice Question

Depictions of three of King Henry VIII's wives from the National Portrait Gallery in London. Which one did he not have beheaded?

1. Portrait A
   
2. Portrait B
   
3. Portrait C
   

Info

The German-born Hans Holbein spent many years in England at the court of Henry VIII. He designed state robes for the king and painted many members of the court, including the king and his wives.

6.) Multiple Choice Question

Which Lucian Freud portrait fetched the most at auction?

1. Kate Moss
   
2. Bruce Bernard
   
3. Naked Portrait
   

7.) Multiple Choice Question

Artist John Wonnacott poses next to his portrait of which young prince?

1. Prince Andrew
   
2. Prince Edward
   
3. Prince William
   

8.) Multiple Choice Question

This portrait was found after being lost for 400 years. The artist?

1. Titian
   
2. Bellini
   
3. Tintoretto
   

9.) Multiple Choice Question

These portraits are works in progress. Who is the subject?

1. Michael Parkinson
   
2. Ian McShane
   
3. David Dickinson
   

Info

For a BBC series called Star Portraits, David Dickinson (with presenter Rolf Harris) sat for three artists. He was quite moved by the results and said in the portrait on the right, by Andy James, he could see the face of the mother he never met.

Answers

1. Both depict Elizabeth I. Left is a 1565 engraving by William Hall after an Edward Corbould portrait; on the right is a depiction from 1560.
2. It's Bacon himself, in a work titled Three Studies for a Self-Portrait which appears in a major exhibition at Tate Britain in London, ahead of his centenary year in 2009.
3. It's Bonnie Prince Charlie, by Maurice Quentin de la Tour - although there has been speculation that it might be his brother. The National Gallery of Scotland, which owns the painting, does not subscribe to this view.
4. It's the Queen, although by the time he had finished it, the Australian painter was pretty happy. While the royals never given an opinion on their portraits, the Queen remarked during the sitting - which was filmed by the BBC - that it "looked very friendly". Click NEXT to see the completed work.
5. It's Portrait C, which is Catherine of Aragon. Portrait A is Anne Boleyn and Portrait B is Catherine Howard. Click NEXT to see the famous Henry VIII portrait by Holbein.
6. It's Naked Portrait, which sold for £11.8m. Bruce Bernard's portrait sold for £7.86m and Kate Moss fetched £3.93m. But his most expensive work is a 1995 portrait - Benefits Supervisor Sleeping - which sold for $33.6m (£17.2m) at Christie's in New York.
7. It's Prince William, painted in 1999. To the untrained eye, both painter and portrait are rosy of cheek and square of jaw. Experts may differ.
8. It's a Titian, called Portrait of a Lady and her Daughter. The canvas was reworked after his death, presumably for commercial reasons, as a portrait of the Archangel Raphael with the boy Tobias. In 1948, the Titian underneath was discovered and it took 20 years to restore.
9. It's David Dickinson. Click NEXT to see him with the finished works.

Your Score

0 - 4 : Can you tell who it is yet?

5 - 7 : Man in the mirror

8 - 10 : Pretty as a picture

For a complete archive of past quizzes and our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, visit the Magazine page and scroll down.