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Leonardo da Vinci - Quiz
Contributed by: Downes
  • 1. When was Leonardo da Vinci born?
A) August 10, 1520
B) March 22, 1433
C) April 15, 1452
D) June 15, 1478
  • 2. Which Italian ruler was a patron of Leonardo da Vinci?
A) Napoleon Bonaparte
B) Julius Caesar
C) Cleopatra
D) Ludovico Sforza
  • 3. What is Leonardo da Vinci's most famous portrait?
A) Girl with a Pearl Earring
B) The Starry Night
C) Mona Lisa
D) American Gothic
  • 4. What French king invited Leonardo da Vinci to live and work at the Château de Cloux?
A) Louis XIV
B) Henry VIII
C) Philip II
D) Francis I
  • 5. What did Leonardo da Vinci dissect to study human anatomy?
A) Corpses
B) Insects
C) Animals
D) Mannequins
  • 6. What was the name of Leonardo da Vinci's notebook filled with sketches and ideas?
A) Tablet
B) Scroll
C) Codex
D) Tome
  • 7. Who was the teacher who inspired and encouraged Leonardo da Vinci's artistic talents?
A) Pablo Picasso
B) Andrea del Verrocchio
C) Rembrandt
D) Vincent van Gogh
  • 8. What is the title of the mural painted by Leonardo da Vinci that depicts the dinner Jesus had with his disciples before his crucifixion?
A) The Sistine Chapel
B) The Last Supper
C) The Birth of Venus
D) The Creation of Adam
  • 9. What is Leonardo da Vinci's full name?
A) Leonardo Donatello di Vinci
B) Leonardo Michelangelo di Vinci
C) Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
D) Leonardo Raphael da Vinci
  • 10. Where did Leonardo spend his last three years?
A) Florence
B) Rome
C) France
D) Milan
  • 11. What record did Salvator Mundi set in 2017?
A) Most expensive painting sold at public auction
B) Largest painting sold at auction
C) First painting by Leonardo sold at auction
D) Oldest painting sold at auction
  • 12. Which field did Leonardo make substantial discoveries in?
A) Astronomy
B) Chemistry
C) Anatomy
D) Philosophy
  • 13. What type of vehicle did Leonardo conceptualize?
A) Hot air balloon
B) Steam engine
C) Submarine
D) Armoured fighting vehicle
  • 14. Which invention by Leonardo entered manufacturing unheralded?
A) Automated bobbin winder
B) Armoured fighting vehicle
C) Flying machine
D) Ratio machine
  • 15. What is the approximate distance of Vinci from Florence?
A) 50 miles
B) 20 miles
C) 30 miles
D) 10 miles
  • 16. What was Leonardo's father's profession?
A) Artisan
B) Painter
C) Merchant
D) Florentine legal notary
  • 17. What nickname was given to Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca?
A) 'The quarrelsome one'
B) 'The painter'
C) 'The scholar'
D) 'The notary'
  • 18. How many times did Ser Piero marry after Caterina?
A) Two
B) Three
C) Four
D) One
  • 19. How many half-siblings did Leonardo have who survived infancy?
A) 5
B) 11
C) 16
D) 8
  • 20. At what age was the last of Leonardo's half-siblings born?
A) 46 years old
B) 50 years old
C) 30 years old
D) 40 years old
  • 21. What type of education did Leonardo receive?
A) Religious schooling
B) Basic and informal
C) Military training
D) Advanced formal
  • 22. Which skills were included in Leonardo's basic education?
A) Sculpture, painting, and music
B) Latin, philosophy, and science
C) Engineering, anatomy, and astronomy
D) (Vernacular) writing, reading, and mathematics
  • 23. What is the name of Leonardo's earliest memory recorded in the Codex Atlanticus?
A) Meeting his father
B) Flying a bird for the first time
C) Painting his first artwork
D) A kite came to his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail
  • 24. Who recorded Leonardo's biography in 'Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'?
A) Leonardo da Vinci
B) Francesco da Vinci
C) Antonio da Vinci
D) Giorgio Vasari
  • 25. Where did Leonardo da Vinci become an apprentice around the age of 14?
A) Platonic Academy
B) Verrocchio's workshop
C) Medici Palace
D) Bargello
  • 26. Which artist's death coincided with Leonardo becoming a studio boy?
A) Piero della Francesca
B) Masaccio
C) Ghiberti
D) Donatello
  • 27. Who were Leonardo's contemporaries that he met at Verrocchio's workshop?
A) Michelangelo, Bramante, Titian
B) Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino
C) Alberti, Piero della Francesca, Raphael
D) Donatello, Masaccio, Ghiberti
  • 28. Which artist's work was known for realism and emotion in frescoes?
A) Piero della Francesca
B) Masaccio
C) Ghiberti
D) Leon Battista Alberti
  • 29. What was the title of the painting Leonardo collaborated on with Verrocchio?
A) The Baptism of Christ
B) Tobias and the Angel
C) David
D) Madonna of the Rocks
  • 30. What technique did Leonardo apply to parts of 'The Baptism of Christ'?
A) Fresco
B) Watercolor
C) Tempera only
D) Oil paint
  • 31. What did Leonardo paint on a buckler shield that was sold for 100 ducats?
A) Vitruvian Man
B) Mona Lisa
C) The Last Supper
D) A monster spitting fire
  • 32. What was the form of the silver string instrument Leonardo brought to Milan?
A) A lion's mane
B) An eagle's beak
C) A horse's head
D) A dolphin's tail
  • 33. What was the name of the equestrian monument Leonardo planned for Ludovico Sforza?
A) Regisole
B) Gattamelata
C) Gran Cavallo
D) Bartolomeo Colleoni
  • 34. What was the trompe-l'œil decoration in the Sala delle Asse intended to resemble?
A) A forest of oak trees
B) A vineyard
C) A pergola created by interwoven mulberry trees
D) A garden of roses
  • 35. Where did Leonardo flee to after Ludovico Sforza was overthrown?
A) Milan
B) Florence
C) Venice
D) Rome
  • 36. Who was Leonardo in service to in Cesena in 1502?
A) Charles II d'Amboise
B) Ludovico Sforza
C) Pope Alexander VI
D) Cesare Borgia
  • 37. Which anatomical feature did Leonardo da Vinci make one of the first scientific drawings of in utero?
A) Lungs
B) Foetus
C) Heart
D) Liver
  • 38. Who assumed the papacy in March 1513?
A) Giuliano de' Medici
B) Lorenzo de' Medici's son Giovanni as Leo X
C) Pope Clement VII
D) Pope Julius II
  • 39. What was the total amount of Leonardo's pension in France?
A) 10,000 scudi
B) 8,000 crowns
C) 5,000 ducats
D) 15,000 florins
  • 40. Where did Leonardo da Vinci die?
A) Milan
B) Florence
C) Rome
D) Clos Lucé
  • 41. What was the height of the skeleton discovered by Houssaye?
A) 1.50 metres (4.9 ft)
B) 1.73 metres (5.7 ft)
C) 1.60 metres (5.3 ft)
D) 2.00 metres (6.6 ft)
  • 42. What nickname was given to Leonardo's assistant Salaì?
A) The Pupil
B) The Little Genius
C) The Master's Shadow
D) Il Salaino
  • 43. Who was Leonardo working on an equestrian monument for?
A) Gian Giacomo Trivulzio
B) King Francis I of France
C) Pope Leo X
D) Lorenzo de' Medici
  • 44. Which king of France supported Leonardo in his old age?
A) Louis XII
B) Francis I
C) Charles IX
D) Henry II
  • 45. Under whom did Leonardo da Vinci study mathematics in the 1490s?
A) Cardinal Louis d'Aragon
B) Nicolas Poussin
C) Marcantonio della Torre
D) Luca Pacioli
  • 46. What is 'sfumato', a technique used by Leonardo?
A) The subtle shadowing that creates a smoky effect
B) A style of painting with visible brushstrokes
C) A method of using bright, contrasting colors
D) A way to create three-dimensional effects with lines
  • 47. What was Leonardo da Vinci's painting technique for 'The Last Supper'?
A) Tempera over a ground that was mainly gesso
B) Fresco on wet plaster
C) Oil on canvas
D) Encaustic wax painting
  • 48. Who was King Francis I's royal advisor that sent instructions regarding Leonardo?
A) Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet
B) Francesco Melzi
C) Antonio Maria Pallavicini
D) Lorenzo di Credi
  • 49. Who was Leonardo's favourite student?
A) Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio
B) Count Francesco Melzi
C) Bernardino Luini
D) Marco d'Oggiono
  • 50. What did Vasari say about the 'Mona Lisa's' smile?
A) 'So pleasing that it seems more divine than human'
B) 'It is identical to the original model's smile'
C) 'It is a simple and unremarkable feature'
D) 'It lacks any emotional depth'
  • 51. What was the subject of a project Leonardo may have commenced for Charles II d'Amboise?
A) A mural
B) A map
C) An equestrian figure
D) A portrait
  • 52. In what year did Leonardo first state the 'laws' of sliding friction in his notebooks?
A) 1512
B) 1493
C) 1505
D) 1520
  • 53. Who observed Leonardo at work on 'The Last Supper' and wrote about it?
A) Matteo Bandello
B) Vasari
C) Michelangelo
D) Ludovico Sforza
  • 54. Who made explicit his opinion that Leonardo's relations with Salaì were intimate and homosexual?
A) Walter Isaacson
B) Vasari
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Melzi
  • 55. Which artist's drawings were based on Leonardo's anatomical studies for publication?
A) Michelangelo
B) Nicolas Poussin
C) Raphael
D) Titian
  • 56. Which river's flow did Leonardo devise a scheme to divert in 1502?
A) Po
B) Adige
C) Arno
D) Tiber
  • 57. What was one of the projects Leonardo worked on for Pope Leo X regarding the Pontine Marshes?
A) Plans for draining them
B) Creating a botanical garden
C) Designing a fountain
D) Building a new church
  • 58. What did Leonardo decorate with scales dipped in quicksilver?
A) A manuscript
B) A painting
C) A statue
D) A lizard
  • 59. What did Leonardo make notes on while dissecting cadavers in the Vatican Gardens?
A) A treatise on vocal cords
B) Botanical studies
C) Engineering designs
D) Anatomy of the human body
  • 60. What was found on one finger of the skeleton discovered by Arsène Houssaye?
A) An iron nail
B) A bronze ring
C) A silver bracelet
D) A gold necklace
  • 61. Which pupil of Leonardo is considered to have artistic merit comparable to others like Marco d'Oggiono?
A) Salaì
B) Boltraffio
C) Melzi
D) Luca Pacioli
  • 62. Which painting by Leonardo da Vinci is characterized by the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeling to the right, approached by an angel?
A) Mona Lisa
B) Virgin of the Rocks
C) Annunciations
D) Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
  • 63. Where did Leonardo live from September 1513 to 1516?
A) At Medici's Vaprio d'Adda villa
B) Porta Orientale, Milan
C) In the Belvedere Courtyard in the Apostolic Palace, Rome
D) Clos Lucé near Château d'Amboise
  • 64. What event led to the demolition of the church where Leonardo was buried?
A) The Black Plague
B) The French Revolution
C) World War I
D) An earthquake in 1802
  • 65. Which drawing technique did Leonardo use in 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist'?
A) Sfumato
B) Chiaroscuro
C) Grisaille
D) Impasto
  • 66. What did Leonardo identify as defining the circulatory system?
A) The heart
B) The lungs
C) The brain
D) The liver
  • 67. Who owns the Codex Leicester?
A) The British Library
B) Bill Gates
C) John Nicholas Brown I
D) Robert Lehman
  • 68. Which book did Leonardo collaborate on with mathematician Luca Pacioli?
A) The Last Supper
B) Mona Lisa
C) Vitruvian Man
D) Divina proportione
  • 69. What was Leonardo given as a monthly allowance in Rome?
A) 20 florins
B) 40 crowns
C) 33 ducats
D) 50 scudi
  • 70. Which flying machine did Leonardo design that mimics bird flight?
A) Flapping ornithopter
B) Glider
C) Helicopter
D) Hot air balloon
  • 71. Which Renaissance movement recognized no polarities between the sciences and the arts?
A) The Enlightenment
B) Baroque period
C) Renaissance humanism
D) Romanticism
  • 72. Which painting by Leonardo da Vinci is characterized by a calm young woman accepting her role as the Mother of God with confidence?
A) Mona Lisa
B) Lady with an Ermine
C) The larger Annunciation
D) Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
  • 73. Who also worked on the project to divert the Arno river's flow alongside Leonardo?
A) Pope Leo X
B) Ludovico il Moro
C) Niccolò Machiavelli
D) Michelangelo
  • 74. Who discovered a partially complete skeleton believed to be Leonardo's remains?
A) Napoleon III
B) Arsène Houssaye
C) Mary Margaret Heaton
D) Charles Nicholl
  • 75. Who collaborated with Leonardo in his anatomical studies from 1510 to 1511?
A) Marcantonio della Torre
B) Luca Pacioli
C) Nicolas Poussin
D) Verrocchio
  • 76. In which year did Leonardo write to Ludovico il Moro about creating machines for city protection?
A) 1510
B) 1502
C) 1499
D) 1482
  • 77. Which of the following did Leonardo not study anatomically?
A) Monkeys
B) Bears
C) Cows
D) Insects
  • 78. How was the painting referred to as Joconda valued in Salaì's posthumous inventory?
A) 300 lire
B) 505 lire
C) 1000 lire
D) 750 lire
  • 79. In what year was Leonardo charged with sodomy, and how old was he at the time?
A) 1485, aged thirty-three
B) 1503, aged fifty-two
C) 1476, aged twenty-four
D) 1492, aged forty-one
  • 80. What technique did Leonardo perfect that represents internal components in technical drawings?
A) Exploded view
B) Orthographic projection
C) Isometric view
D) Perspective view
  • 81. What did Leonardo create that walked towards the King during a pageant?
A) An equestrian statue
B) A mechanical lion
C) A portrait of Louise of Savoy
D) A painting of Francis I
  • 82. On what date did Leonardo da Vinci pass away?
A) May 2, 1519
B) April 15, 1506
C) March 30, 1498
D) June 23, 1524
  • 83. When did Leonardo return to Florence after leaving Borgia's service?
A) Late 1504
B) Mid-1505
C) Early 1503
D) Early 1506
  • 84. Where was Leonardo sorting out a dispute in 1507?
A) Venice
B) Florence
C) Milan
D) Rome
  • 85. Which television series built ten machines designed by Leonardo?
A) Leonardo's Dream Machines
B) Doing DaVinci
C) The Art of Engineering
D) Masters of Invention
  • 86. Which of Leonardo's works is noted for its androgyny and eroticism?
A) The Last Supper
B) Vitruvian Man
C) Saint John the Baptist
D) Mona Lisa
  • 87. What year were documents published revealing Houssaye's actions?
A) 1999
B) 1987
C) 2019
D) 2005
  • 88. Who summoned Leonardo to Milan in 1506?
A) Ludovico Sforza
B) Cesare Borgia
C) Charles II d'Amboise
D) Pope Alexander VI
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