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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. Whose death prompted Leonardo's father to bring him to Florence at twelve years old?
(a) Leonardo's maternal grandmother's.
(b) Leonardo's stepmother's.
(c) Leonardo's half-brother's.
(d) Leonardo's cousin's.

2. While Leonardo often drew and painted full-body male nudes, by contrast, almost all of the women he painted were what?
(a) Hiding their nakedness with their hair.
(b) Clothed and shown from the waist down.
(c) Clothed and shown from the waist up.
(d) Turned away from the viewer.

3. Leonardo followed what type of restrictive diet throughout his life?
(a) Vegetarian.
(b) Pescatarian.
(c) Fruitarian.
(d) Pollotarian.

4. In what season of 1452 was Leonardo born?
(a) Summer.
(b) Winter.
(c) Autumn.
(d) Spring.

5. In what year did Johannes Gutenberg begin selling Bibles created on his newly-invented printing press?
(a) 1489.
(b) 1452.
(c) 1501.
(d) 1348.

Short Answer Questions

1. Leonardo's memory of a bird hovering above his crib when he was an infant involved what type of bird?

2. Much of Leonardo's thinking regarding birds was gathered into a notebook now known as the Codex on the Flight of Birds. How many folios are present within that notebook?

3. In the early 1490s, Leonardo undertook the task of learning what language?

4. The commission of what art piece led to Leonardo's official appointment in the court of Ludovico Sforza and its accompanying salary and accommodations?

5. What was the fate of Giacomo Andrea, the man who was a student of Vitruvius's works and was like a brother to Leonardo?

Short Essay Questions

1. What symbolism did Leonardo see in the reeds he included in his drawing of Pleasure and Pain?

2. What was the reason that Leonardo's horse monument was never completed?

3. What was revealed about Leonardo's looks and personality in early works written about his person?

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

5. How did Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1452 affect Leonardo's life and work?

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

7. What qualities of Leonardo's character are discussed as qualities that would have made him a misfit in any place besides Florence?

8. What major difference does the author depict when comparing and contrasting Leonardo's personality with Leon Battista Alberti's personality?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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