Deck 22: The Secular Baroque in the North: the Art of Observation

Question 1

In October 1571,Calvinist leaders who opposed the Spanish imposition of Catholicism formed the

A) Dutch Reformed Church.
B) Brotherhood of Saint Bavo.
C) Saint George Civic Guard.
D) Methodist Church.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a contradiction of seventeenth-century Amsterdam residents?

A) They advocated harmony with others, yet viciously warred with the French.
B) They avidly collected art for homes, yet banned art in churches.
C) They were intolerant of religious heresy among Protestants, yet tolerant of Catholics and Jews.
D) They were obsessed with acquisition of material goods, yet rigidly austere in religious life.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Catholic Church punished astronomer Giordana Bruno by

A) life imprisonment.
B) burning at the stake.
C) banishment from Rome.
D) forced public retraction.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In 1637,the Dutch economy come close to collapse because of

A) widespread flooding of tulip fields.
B) frenzied speculation in tulip futures.
C) rampant viruses in tulip crops.
D) monetary inflation caused by the tulip craze.

Question 5

Why did the Dutch rebel against the Spanish in 1567?

A) The Spanish armada blockaded Amsterdam's port.
B) Philip II transferred the Spanish banking from Amsterdam to Madrid.
C) The Spanish opened the dikes, flooding the Dutch farmland.
D) Philip II reorganized their churches under Catholic hierarchy.

Question 6

In Flowers in a Wan-li Vase with Blue-Tit,Johannes Goedaert painted a bird eating a moth beside the Ming vase to

A) emphasize the exotic origin of the vase.
B) remind the viewer of life's frivolous qualities.
C) balance the broken shell on the canvas's other side.
D) parallel the shape of the tulips' open blooms.

Question 7

All of the following are among Francis Bacon's four major categories of false notion EXCEPT

A) Idols of the Market Place.
B) Idols of the Theater.
C) Idols of the Tribe.
D) Idols of the King.

Question 8

What national pride is reflected in Dutch landscape paintings such as Jacob van Ruisdael's View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen?

A) reclamation of land from the sea
B) desire to possess worldly goods
C) Protestant moral sensibility
D) Dutch obsession with geography

Question 9

What branch of mathematics did René Descartes found?

A) homological algebra
B) finite mathematics
C) calculus
D) analytic geometry

Question 10

Vanitas paintings remind viewers to

A) avoid the pleasures of everyday life.
B) appreciate beauty in nature.
C) focus on the spiritual, not the material.
D) celebrate abundance and pleasure.

Question 11

In 1618,some members of the Dutch Reformed Church were expelled,and even imprisoned and beheaded for

A) the belief that good deeds could overcome predestination.
B) not persecuting Calvinists.
C) the belief that predestination was independent of faith.
D) refusing to remove religious art from their churches.

Question 12

The "broken" tulip,so highly valued by the seventeenth-century Dutch,is created by

A) a virus.
B) cross-breeding.
C) a mutation.
D) a fungus.

Question 13

The Dutch state required public servants to

A) have graduated from a Dutch university.
B) not be involved in tulip investing.
C) not be of Spanish descent.
D) be members of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Question 14

Most of Johannes Vermeer's paintings depict

A) Dutch landscapes.
B) the domestic world of women.
C) vanitas still lifes.
D) the world of militiamen.

Question 15

According to Francis Bacon,the greatest obstacles to human understanding were

A) superstition and lack of education.
B) superstition and religion.
C) religion and prejudice.
D) prejudice and superstition.

Question 16

In Johannes Vermeer's Woman with a Pearl Necklace,the pearls might represent

A) wealth.
B) foreign trade.
C) purity.
D) greed.

Question 17

As a manner of inquiry,René Descartes advocated

A) the dialectic method.
B) deductive reasoning.
C) inductive reasoning.
D) the empirical method.

Question 18

The Catholic and Protestant churches opposed the heliocentric theories of Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei for

A) contradicting certain biblical passages.
B) resembling the pagan myths about Apollo.
C) challenging belief in God as creator.
D) implying the existence of other solar systems.

Question 19

According to René Descartes,God is

A) pure love and total acceptance.
B) the mover of the universe.
C) the mathematical order of nature.
D) the determiner of a person's destiny.

Question 20

As a manner of inquiry,Francis Bacon advocated

A) the dialectic method.
B) deductive reasoning.
C) the Cartesian method.
D) the empirical method.

Question 21

Why can Rembrandt's late work Slaughtered Ox be viewed as optimistic?

A) Soft light falls on the animal's carcass.
B) The carcass suggests a feast to come.
C) The crucifixion pose implies redemption.
D) The maid in the doorway represents the Virgin.

Question 22

Summarize Descartes's use of deductive reasoning to prove to his satisfaction the existence of God.

Question 23

Describe the development,beliefs,and appearance of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Question 24

Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas differ from the Lutheran chorales' simple melodies on which they were based due to their

A) lush string accompaniments.
B) double chorus.
C) addition of counterpoint.
D) narration by a tenor evangelist.

Question 25

One of the main forms of entertainment at Dutch family gatherings was provided by

A) performances of keyboard music.
B) fantasias played on an organ.
C) virtuoso performances on the violin.
D) singing of secular madrigals.

Question 26

Why did Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck perform his fantasias as preludes to church services?

A) People would pay admission to hear these compositions.
B) Calvinists disallowed music during their services.
C) They were intended to serve as musical commentary on the service's text.
D) Calvinist doctrine required standard hymns during services.

Question 27

Compare Bacon's empirical method to Descartes's deductive reasoning.

Question 28

Johann Sebastian Bach's fugues can be viewed as sublime examples of Cartesian rationalism because of their

A) multiple instruments.
B) blending of words and strings.
C) single thematic idea.
D) mathematical clarity.

Question 29

In The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.Tulp,Rembrandt illuminates the cadaver to

A) evoke the executed man's similarity to Christ.
B) enable the viewer to see the anatomical detail.
C) highlight the impossibility of resurrection.
D) draw the viewer's eye to the painting's center.

Question 30

The Baroque era is considered the golden age of

A) the violin.
B) the piano.
C) the organ.
D) the harp.

Question 31

Rembrandt's Captain Frans Banning Cocq Mustering His Company was once mistitled The Night Watch,because

A) it was covered with grime.
B) Captain Cocq was a Spanish spy.
C) It was only exhibited at night.
D) It represents a militia that only fought at night.

Question 32

Summarize the frenzied speculation in tulip bulbs known as "Tulipomania," including its effects on the Dutch economy and the people.

Question 33

List and define three ways in which seventeenth-century Amsterdam can be considered a city of contradictions.

Question 34

In The Little Street,Johannes Vermeer includes a half-whitewashed wall and a mortar-filled cracked façade to

A) show the tensions of domestic life.
B) divisions between Protestants and Catholics.
C) emphasize the differences between two houses.
D) acknowledge the disparity between classes.

Question 35

List and describe three of the most popular subjects of Dutch artists.

Question 36

Explain the meaning and significance of René Descartes's famous expression,"Cogito,ergo sum" ("I think,therefore I am").

Question 37

Describe the position of the seventeenth-century Dutch woman as evidenced by the paintings of Judith Leyster and Jan Vermeer.

Question 38

Explain the effect of the camera obscura and the microscope on the detail-obsessed Dutch artists.

Question 39

List and briefly explain Francis Bacon's four major categories of false notion.

Question 40

Rembrandt painted many self-portraits primarily because

A) he wished to emulate Albrecht Dürer's self-portrait.
B) he felt compelled to indulge his excessive vanity.
C) the market demanded works with his image.
D) his own face provided the ideal practice subject.

Question 41

Explain how Bach's cantatas reflect one of the distinct features of Baroque music-the drive to create new and original compositions at a sometimes unheard-of pace.

Question 42

Describe the developments in Dutch music during the seventeenth century,highlighting especially the innovations and contributions of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Question 43

Using as examples at least two of his works,describe Rembrandt van Rijn's use of light and its meaning in his works.