Deck 18: Sixteenth-Century Painting and Printmaking in Northern Europe

Question 1

Through his travels in Italy, Pieter Bruegel the Elder developed a taste for

A) statuary.
B) architecture.
C) idealized human forms.
D) landscape.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which artist created the Isenheim Altarpiece?

A) Dürer
B) Holbein
C) Grünewald
D) Bosch

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In the engraving process, a burin is

A) the ink used to stain the plate on which an image is produced.
B) the instrument used to cut an image into a metal plate.
C) the metal or wooden plate onto which an image is inscribed.
D) a set of multiple identical images.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which artist became famous for woodcuts and engravings, such as his portrait of Erasmus?

A) Bosch
B) Holbein
C) Dürer
D) Grünewald

Question 5

What feature did Albrecht Dürer add to the Italian Renaissance style that influenced him?

A) a rejection of Classical form
B) the use of mathematical laws of perspective
C) a brighter and livelier color scheme
D) a more rugged, liner style

Question 6

Albrecht Dürer's engraving Melencolia helped to develop the concept of the artist as

A) a whimsical voluptuary.
B) of no importance to the work of creation.
C) a confident creator.
D) a gloomy genius.

Question 7

Which Northern Renaissance figure wrote The Praise of Folly <and Adages?

A) Erasmus
B) Luther
C) Tetzel
D) van Hemessen

Question 8

Which artist was best known for his portraits, such as one of his close friend Martin Luther (1533), as well as for his landscapes?

A) Grünewald
B) Tetzel
C) Holbein
D) Bruegel

Question 9

Which artist wrote Four Books of Human Proportion?

A) Dürer
B) Bruegel
C) Holbein
D) Bosch

Question 10

Which High Renaissance artist became the court painter to Henry VIII in 1533 and painted a famous portrait of the king in c. 1540?

A) Dürer
B) Cranach
C) Bosch
D) Holbein

Question 11

The works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder share an affinity with which humanist literary form associated with Erasmus?

A) proverbs
B) epic poetry
C) morality plays
D) sermons

Question 12

What Netherlandish qualities did Holbein combine with German linear technique?

A) elaborately detailed surface textures and rich color patterns
B) idealized depictions of the human form that obliterated idiosyncratic features
C) a fondness for sprawling landscapes that dwarfed human figures
D) an emphasis on human frailty, both physical and mental

Question 13

Marsilio Ficino argued that melancholics were born under the sign of which Roman deity, known for his moody temperament?

A) Apollo
B) Hera
C) Zeus
D) Saturn

Question 14

How did Grünewald's depiction of the Crucifixion differ from earlier examples of that motif?

A) in its depiction of a serene, beatific Christ on the cross
B) in its depiction of Jesus as an abstract form instead of a human figure
C) in its idealized depiction of Jesus as more godlike than human
D) in its emphasis on Jesus' bodily suffering conveyed through gruesome colors

Question 15

Which saint's fourteenth-century Revelations likely influenced Grünewald's depiction of the Crucifixion?

A) Saint Anthony
B) Saint Sebastian
C) Saint Bridget
D) Saint Caterina

Question 16

The painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus emphasizes

A) the benefits of experimentation.
B) the inherent value of working the land.
C) the dignity of pursuing heroic deeds, even if one fails.
D) the desire of all human beings to overcome traditional restraints.

Question 17

In Netherlandish Proverbs,

A) sits between two stools.
B) beats his head against a brick wall.
C) wears a cloak with a pointed hood.
D) gossips with two women.

Question 18

The interior of the Isenheim Altarpiece depicts

A) Christ suffering horribly on the Cross.
B) Christ's triumphant ascendancy to the spiritual plane.
C) God in heaven accompanied by Christ and surrounded by angels.
D) hideous depictions of the suffering of the damned in Hell.

Question 19

The painting Netherlandish Proverbs (1559) explicitly depicts

A) the specific benefits of living according to fixed rules.
B) the ubiquity of folly among human beings.
C) the benefits of defying conventional wisdom.
D) how one person's sin can bring down a righteous community.

Question 20

Who painted Netherlandish Proverbs in 1559?

A) Bosch
B) van Hemessen
C) Cranach
D) Bruegel

Question 21

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pieter Bruegel the Elder avoided moralizing in his work.

Question 22

Who published Het Schilderboeck (The Painter's Book) in 1604?

A) Dürer
B) Kramer
C) van Mander
D) Sprenger

Question 23

Although it gained in popularity in the sixteenth century, printmaking had been an important form of European art since Classical antiquity.

Question 24

Who painted Landscape with the Fall of Icarus?

A) Holbein
B) Bosch
C) Cranach
D) Bruegel

Question 25

Caterina van Hemessen's self-portrait depicts her

A) with her hands clasped and head lowered in prayer.
B) standing meekly beside her husband.
C) at an easel in the act of painting.
D) in the idealized form of a Classical muse.

Question 26

Northern artists were generally hostile to humanist figures such as Erasmus and Luther.

Question 27

The content of the Garden of Earthly Delights could best be described as consisting of

A) bizarre and fantastical imagery.
B) a straightforward allegorical narrative.
C) idealized representations of the natural world.
D) a testament to the human potential for growth and perfection.

Question 28

Among Luther's chief objections to the Catholic Church was its policy of selling "indulgences."

Question 29

Most women painters of the sixteenth century exclusively painted still lifes and landscapes because it was considered offensive for them to paint portraits of living people.

Question 30

The Garden of Earthly Delights seems to consist primarily of symbols warning against the sin of

A) lust.
B) greed.
C) sloth.
D) wrath.

Question 31

The most important painters of sixteenth-century Northern Europe came from which two regions?

A) Germany and France
B) France and England
C) England and the Netherlands
D) the Netherlands and Germany

Question 32

Following the death of Hans Holbein the Younger, Germany failed to produce another major artist for the rest of the sixteenth century.

Question 33

The Isenheim Altarpiece, with its gruesome depiction of Christ's suffering, was commissioned for a hospital chapel.

Question 34

The painters of sixteenth-century Northern Europe adopted Classical form and chiaroscuro more readily than their Italian counterparts.

Question 35

The famous triptych Garden of Earthly Delights consists of all the following scenes EXCEPT

A) hell.
B) the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
C) the Garden of Eden.
D) the world before the Flood.

Question 36

Caterina van Hemessen is best known for her

A) fantastical allegories.
B) portraiture.
C) genre paintings.
D) seascapes.

Question 37

Who painted the famous triptych Garden of Earthly Delights?

A) van Hemessen
B) Holbein
C) Erasmus
D) Bosch

Question 38

In line with prevailing medieval thought, the triptych Garden of Earthly Delights depicts music as a divine medium that brings humans closer to God.

Question 39

Albrecht Dürer's Apocalypse was the first book to be designed and published by a single artist.

Question 40

In painting, what is a genre scene?

A) a scene of everyday life
B) a scene that can be clearly labeled as religious, secular, historical, and so forth
C) a scene consisting of religious allegories
D) a scene that depicts an aristocratic subject in an idealized pose

Question 41

Analyze the symbolism in the triptych Garden of Earthly Delights. What different influences can be seen in the work? What seems to be the work's overall argument?

Question 42

What is unusual about the depiction of the Crucifixion in the Isenheim Altarpiece? How does the altarpiece as a whole compare to other works of the Northern Renaissance?

Question 43

How were artists viewed in sixteenth-century northern Europe? How did they view themselves?

Question 44

What qualities did the Northern Renaissance of the sixteenth century share with the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century? How did they differ?

Question 45

How did the work of Italian artists influence Albrecht Dürer? What innovations of his own did he add?

Question 46

Analyze the portraiture of Northern European artists. What qualities of the subjects did these works emphasize?

Question 47

How did his visit to Italy shape the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder? What traits of Southern European art did he pick up while he was there? What characteristics of his work were more representative of Northern European culture than of Southern European culture?