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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. Leonardo's work entitled Codex Madrid I is largely devoted to the design of what?
(a) A perpetual motion machine.
(b) Irrigation techniques.
(c) River diversion techniques.
(d) More efficient machinery.

2. Leonardo's memory of a bird hovering above his crib when he was an infant involved what type of bird?
(a) A kite.
(b) An osprey.
(c) An eagle.
(d) A bluebird.

3. Lorenzo de' Medici, a great supporter of the arts in Florence, founded and funded Florence's first public what?
(a) Library.
(b) Museum.
(c) Zoo.
(d) Art studio.

4. 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?
(a) Real.
(b) Rational.
(c) Transcendental.
(d) Natural.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year was a great deal of information found and published about the identity of Leonardo's mother?

2. 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?

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

4. What was Leonardo's favorite branch of mathematics?

5. The squaring of a circle was a concept first discovered and discussed by what great thinker?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is chiaroscuro and how did Leonardo employ it?

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

3. What are the reasons that Renaissance Italy has come to be known as "a golden age for bastards" (9)?

4. Discuss an example of Leonardo's use of analogies that led him to new scientific discoveries.

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

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

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

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

9. Which branch of mathematics interested Leonardo above all others?

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

(see the answer keys)

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