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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. 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?

2. In what year did Johannes Gutenberg begin selling Bibles created on his newly-invented printing press?

3. By age five, Leonardo lived primarily with whom?

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

5. On what day of the week was Leonardo born?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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 is chiaroscuro and how did Leonardo employ it?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss three different women that appear within the book's narrative and compare and contrast their characteristics. How do their roles differ and how are their roles similar? Taken together, what depiction of women is present in the overall narrative of Walter Isaacson's book? Choose concrete details about all three women to support your points.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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

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