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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. Lorenzo de' Medici, a great supporter of the arts in Florence, founded and funded Florence's first public what?

2. Leonardo was known to buy birds from the marketplace and do what with them?

3. What was the name of Leonardo's mother?

4. In whose honor was the horse monument intended to be created, with a sculpture of his likeness to be placed upon the back of the horse?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. 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?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Choose a symbolic object from the book, such as Leonardo's inventory of the clothing trunk, Leonardo's short rose-colored cloak, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

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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This section contains 1,093 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample