This first weekend of the New Year, I thought you might enjoy a little quiz. The idea is very simple: identify the artists who painted each of these ten works. In order to make this more of a challenge, I have chosen early successes by that painter which are likely to differ considerably from their mature style, and are at the very least not what we’d consider to be their usual genre or type of motif.

These are arranged in chronological order of their making, starting after 1790 and ending before 1900, and each was painted by someone normally considered to have established their reputation in the nineteenth century. I’ll also drop a clue or two with each. The captions give media and approximate dimensions, which may differ slightly from the exact measurements. I have made minor changes to some of the paintings to obscure their signatures.

Painting 1:

Their first oil painting to be exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Painting 2:

This was awarded a third-class medal at the Paris Salon.

Painting 3:

One of two of their paintings exhibited at the Paris Salon that year, earning them a gold medal.

Painting 4:

Draws from a very unusual literary source.

Painting 5:

Painted shortly before they moved to Paris.

Painting 6:

Painted two years before they had their first work accepted by the Paris Salon.

Painting 7:

A milestone when it was first exhibited at the Paris Salon.

Painting 8:

Their first painting exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Painting 9:

Never exhibited, but given to the artist’s sister.

Painting 10:

Awarded a gold medal, and a prizewinner at an international exhibition in Chicago.

Tomorrow I will reveal the answers, and tell a bit more about each of these wonderful paintings.