Q 01/05

Which animal did Albrecht Dürer depict in a famous 1515 woodcut without ever having seen one?

A) A rhinoceros

B) An elephant

C) A hippopotamus

D) A giraffe

Answer · why

A) A rhinoceros

A rhinoceros was the subject, drawn only from a written description and another artist's sketch. Dürer gave it plates like a suit of armour, and Europ...

Q 02/05

Albrecht Dürer's 1500 self-portrait startles viewers by echoing traditional images of which figure?

A) Emperor Charlemagne

B) Jesus Christ

C) Saint John the Baptist

D) Alexander the Great

Answer · why

B) Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ was the figure viewers then associated with a full-face pose and a hand raised as if in blessing. Dürer set the year 1500 above his initi...

Q 03/05

The surname Dürer translates a Hungarian name meaning which object, shown on the family's coat of arms?

A) A bell

B) A key

C) A door

D) A tower

Answer · why

C) A door

A door is what the name points to, because the artist's father came from the Hungarian village of Ajtós and 'ajtó' means just that. The family first w...

Q 04/05

Which 1502 Dürer watercolour shows a window's crossbars reflected in its animal subject's eye?

A) Young Hare

B) Stag Beetle

C) Little Owl

D) Head of a Walrus

Answer · why

A) Young Hare

Young Hare is so finely observed that the animal's eye mirrors a window frame. Dürer signed and dated the sheet prominently, a sign that he saw it as ...

Q 05/05

Which pop artist's tombstone carries a carving based on Albrecht Dürer's drawing Praying Hands?

A) Keith Haring

B) Roy Lichtenstein

C) Andy Warhol

D) Jean-Michel Basquiat

Answer · why

C) Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol's gravestone near Pittsburgh carries the hands, one of the most widely reproduced images of prayer in the Western world. Dürer drew them i...