The Rokeby Venus Incident and Suffragette Militancy

In March 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson attacked the Rokeby Venus painting at the National Gallery in London as a protest against the government's treatment of Emmeline Pankhurst. This act was part of a broader suffragette campaign involving art attacks to gain publicity for women's rights. The incident led to increased security measures in museums and a public backlash, with media portraying suffragettes as irrational. Despite the negative press, the attack highlighted the suffragette movement's determination for women's suffrage.

What did Mary Richardson use to attack the Rokeby Venus painting?

• A crowbar

• A butcher's knife

• A hammer

• A pair of scissors

What was Mary Richardson's affiliation with the Women's Social and Political Union?

• She joined in 1914

• She joined in 1910

• She was never a member

• She was a founding member

What did Mary Richardson describe her act of joining the Women's Social and Political Union as?

• A personal mission

• A holy crusade

• A political statement

• A social experiment

What was the Cat and Mouse Act?

• A law to protect artworks

• A law to release and re-arrest suffragettes

• A law to imprison suffragettes indefinitely

• A law to ban women from museums

Which museum announced that women would only be admitted with a satisfactory recommendation in May 1914?

• The Royal Academy

• The British Museum

• The Manchester Art Gallery

• The National Gallery

What was the public's general reaction to the suffragette attacks on art?

• Supportive

• Backlash and criticism

• Encouraging

• Indifferent

How did the Daily Mirror describe Mary Richardson's act?

• Heroic

• Crazy

• Justified

• Misunderstood

What was the maximum sentence Mary Richardson received for her attack on the Rokeby Venus?

• Two years imprisonment

• One year imprisonment

• Six months imprisonment

• Three months imprisonment

Who claimed that Richardson's act would forever be a sign of women's determination to be free?

• Emmeline Pankhurst

• The National Gallery

• Christabel Pankhurst

• The Daily Mirror

What does the label accompanying the Rokeby Venus at the National Gallery today omit?

• The date of creation

• The painting's value

• Mary Richardson's attack

• The artist's name