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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. How many godparents gave witness to Leonardo's birth?
(a) 10.
(b) 20.
(c) 6.
(d) 8.

2. What fraction of Florence's population was literate in 1472?
(a) One third.
(b) One quarter.
(c) One half.
(d) One fifth.

3. What position was held by legitimate first-born sons in Leonardo's family, stretching back at least five generations?
(a) Notary.
(b) Banker.
(c) Dentist.
(d) Tax collector.

4. Leonardo wrote that, "Those who are in love with practice without theoretical knowledge are like the sailor who goes onto a ship without" (175) what two items?
(a) A map and a spyglass.
(b) A compass and a rudder.
(c) A compass and a map.
(d) A rudder and a spyglass.

5. Which friend of Leonardo's developed the first widely-published system for double-entry bookkeeping?
(a) Luca Pacioli.
(b) Salai.
(c) Ludovico Sforza.
(d) Corte Vecchia.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Donato Bramante was hired by Ludovico Sforza to remodel the dining hall of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, what painting was Leonardo hired to create on the dining hall's wall?

2. In what year did Leonardo receive his first commission?

3. One reason Leonardo could not devise how to square a circle is that a mathematical process for squaring a circle cannot be done with just a compass and a ruler. Instead, it requires what type of number?

4. Rather than being a surname of Leonardo's, what does the phrase "da Vinci" indicate?

5. What term did Leonardo eventually use to describe the object he hoped would result in human flight due to the device's flapping wings?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What were the underlying reasons for Leonardo's vegetarianism?

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

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

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

6. What did Leonardo mean when he wrote, "He who has access to the fountain does not go to the water-jar" (176)?

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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