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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How many years after Leonardo's birth was Galileo born?

3. What was the population of Florence when Leonardo moved there in 1464?

4. How many godparents gave witness to Leonardo's birth?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In what way did Leonardo's illegitimacy grant him certain freedoms?

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the author use sensory details in order to paint a vivid portrait of the historical events he depicts within the book? Discuss at least two scenes that include extensive use of sensory details and pull quotes from these scenes to support your claim.

Essay Topic 2

What is the book's message regarding the search for fame and posterity?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's decision to include full-color images of Leonardo's work within the text. What purpose did he have in mind when including these images and how does the inclusion of these images support the overarching themes and messages of the text? Back up your strong, specific claim about the author's use of photographs with concrete details from the images he includes in the book.

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