Where did Henry Wellcome keep his cats? The great British art quiz

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from more than 3,000 venues and by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions.

Today, our questions are set by the Wellcome Collection, which is a free museum and library in London that aims to challenge how we all think and feel about health.

Through exhibitions, collections, live programming, digital, broadcast and publishing, they create opportunities for people to think deeply about the connections between science, medicine, life and art.

You can see art from the Wellcome Collection on Art UK here. Find out more on its website here.

Who is this painting by?

What does the insignia on this man’s robe indicate?

The Victorian painter James Nasmyth (1808-90) painted this picture of an alchemist. The artist also happened to be an inventor. Which of the following did he not do or achieve?

This gouache and pencil painting on ivory represents Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed god of wisdom, success and remover of obstacles. Although different versions about his birth exists, Ganesha is popularly known as the son of Parvati and who?

Shiva According to tradition, Parvati carved a boy from earth and as her husband Shiva was away, her new son stood guard while she bathed. When Shiva returned, the boy denied him entry. Shiva decapitated Ganesha in anger but when Parvati learned of this, she was so enraged she decided to destroy Ganesha. Shiva repented, found a new head for the boy from an elephant and restored their son to life. Image: Ganesha, the Elephant-Headed God of Wisdom, Literature and Success, Along With His Vehicle, the Rat, 19th century, unknown artist, Wellcome Collection

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), radical politician, theologist and chemist is pictured here playing backgammon in his house in Birmingham, but what element has he been historically credited for discovering?

This 19th-century Japanese gouache painting depicts a blissful sleeping cat. Where did Henry Wellcome’s cat Pip and her two off-spring sleep as reported by the Liverpool Echo in 1936?

In a palatial Regents park residence, complete with ballroom, occupied solely by the cats Henry Wellcome, collector, entrepreneur, philanthropist and even inventor, was also a devoted (and eccentric) cat owner. There are photographs of his cats, alongside lengthy care instructions for cat-sitters, in the archive of Wellcome Foundation Ltd, which includes the newspaper cutting revealing the ‘Millionaire’s Mansion for Cats’. Henry himself resided in a nearby Portland Place hotel. Image: A Sleeping Cat, 19th century, unknown artist, Wellcome Collection

This drawing attributed to Francesco Rosaspina (1762-1841), was made after an altarpiece by Domenichino. After training with Denis Calvaert, in 1595 Domenichino joined the Accademia degli Incamminati, a private art school founded by:

This Venetian oil painting portrays a man who was formerly identified as the anatomist Andreas Vesalius. To which emperor did Vesalius dedicate his work De Humanis Corporis Fabrica?

You got…

An experiment with mixed results.

A valiant attempt, but you didn’t turn lead into gold in this instance.

Congratulations – you know your way around a lab as well as a gallery.

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