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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Rather than being a surname of Leonardo's, what does the phrase "da Vinci" indicate?
(a) Leonardo's status as a polymath.
(b) Leonardo's hailing from the town of Vinci.
(c) Leonardo's illegitimate status.
(d) Leonardo's status as his father's firstborn son.

2. How old was Leonardo's father Piero when he had a baby with Leonardo's 16-year-old mother?
(a) 29.
(b) 19.
(c) 36.
(d) 24.

3. In what year did Leonardo receive his first commission?
(a) 1492.
(b) 1452.
(c) 1478.
(d) 1460.

4. Of what material was the horse monument to be made?
(a) Bronze.
(b) Copper.
(c) Plaster.
(d) Silver.

5. What was the name of Leonardo's mother?
(a) Piera.
(b) Antonia.
(c) Caterina.
(d) Lucrezia.

Short Answer Questions

1. After collaborating with Leonardo on a particular painting, Andrea del Verrocchio, Verocchio was reportedly so awed by Leonardo's technique that he never completed another painting on his own. What was the title of the painting on which the two collaborated?

2. What kind of organization was the Compagnia di San Luca that Leonardo joined in 1472?

3. In what year was Leonardo brought to Florence to live with his father?

4. What was the function of the official known as a count palatine?

5. How old was Salai when he came to live with Leonardo?

Short Essay Questions

1. The essayist Benedetto Dei wrote in 1972 that Florence "has all seven of the fundamental things a city requires for perfection" (26). What were the seven things he named?

2. What were the main techniques Leonardo adopted from his mentor, Andrea del Verrocchio, that would go on to be featured prominently in all of Leonardo's later works?

3. What occasion prompted Leonardo to paint The Last Supper?

4. What information was recently discovered in 2017 about Leonardo's birth mother?

5. What was the main source of information used by Walter Isaacson in his writing of Leonardo's biography?

6. Who was Salai and what were some of his character traits?

7. What language did Leonardo decide to teach himself in the early 1490s and what was the result?

8. How did the books included in Leonardo's personal library inventory in 1492 represent the extreme diversity of his interests?

9. When Leonardo joined a competition of architects, what was the assigned task for the contest?

10. What plan did Leonardo have for the casting of the horse monument that no one had ever attempted before?

(see the answer keys)

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