Deck 12: Renaissance Ideals and Realities,c.1350–1550

Question 1

In contrast to the civic humanists,Castiglione's Courtier stressed as the hallmark of true nobility:

A) strenuous public service on behalf of the city-state.
B) an ideal of effortlessness and elegance at court.
C) the necessity for a courtier to be an accomplished scholar.
D) a disdain for women who sought to play roles outside the private household.
E) the ability to take as lovers as many of the women at court as possible.

Answer 1

an ideal of effortlessness and elegance at court.

Question 2

According to Machiavelli,the ideal form of government for his native city of Florence was:

A) a republic modeled on the Roman example.
B) an oligarchy modeled on Venice.
C) a monarchy modeled on France.
D) a principality, the model of which he sketched in The Prince.
E) a republic modeled on Plato's Republic.

Answer 2

a republic modeled on the Roman example.

Question 3

The Renaissance originated in Italy because:

A) Greek was still a common language among educated Italian elites.
B) in the fourteenth century the papacy was the center of cultural and artistic innovation in Europe.
C) during the later Middle Ages, Italy was the wealthiest urban society in Europe.
D) during the later Middle Ages, Italian schools were among the weakest in Europe.
E) the ancient texts that were being recovered were all in Latin, the language of Italy.

Answer 3

during the later Middle Ages, Italy was the wealthiest urban society in Europe.

Question 4

The retelling of the Song of Roland in fifteenth-century Italy differed from the original by its:

A) setting, which was changed to Italy from Spain.
B) lack of any suggestion of heroic idealism.
C) language: the original was in vernacular French and the retelling in Latin.
D) ending, which had Roland surviving to be rewarded for his heroism by Charlemagne.
E) use of irony to stress the heroic idealism of Roland.

Question 5

In the fifteenth century,the majority of the great painters were from:

A) Venice.
B) Rome.
C) Pisa.
D) Florence.
E) Naples.

Question 6

The great influx of Greek manuscripts from the Muslim world in the fifteenth century led to the development of a new interest in a form of literary analysis known as:

A) close reading.
B) New Criticism.
C) postmodernism.
D) textual criticism.
E) deconstructionism.

Question 7

As evidenced by The Prince,Machiavelli believed that the best form of government would be:

A) an absolute dictatorship, since human beings are incapable of ruling themselves.
B) a constitutional government, since human beings have the right and ability to rule themselves.
C) a monarchy under a suitable ruler such as Cesare Borgia.
D) an oligarchy, since there are very few people in any society capable of governing.
E) an anarchy, since the strongest in any society will always have their way over the weak.

Question 8

_________ taught that people could achieve salvation through the exercise of their unique talents.

A) Marsilio Ficino
B) Lorenzo Valla
C) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
D) Niccolò Machiavelli
E) Leonardo Bruni

Question 9

Which of the following Renaissance humanists proved that the Donation of Constantine was a medieval forgery?

A) Petrarch
B) Leonardo Bruni
C) Leon Battista Alberti
D) Lorenzo Valla
E) Marsilio Ficino

Question 10

The early humanist Petrarca criticized late-medieval scholasticism because he felt it:

A) concentrated more on virtuous living than abstract speculation.
B) concentrated more on abstract speculation than virtuous living.
C) focused too much on Christianity and salvation.
D) encouraged a solitary life of contemplation and asceticism.
E) was much too worldly in its approach to education.

Question 11

Renaissance Italy invested heavily in art and culture because:

A) Italy was more prosperous in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries than it had been earlier and so had more money to spend.
B) cities and their rulers competed with each other in constructing public monuments and patronizing artists and authors.
C) Italy was in an economic depression, so there was nothing else to spend money on except for art.
D) Italy was trying to compete with France, which had a long tradition of supporting artists and authors.
E) Italian merchants realized the potential for great returns on their investment in painting and sculpture.

Question 12

Machiavelli admired Cesare Borgia for his:

A) civic-mindedness and sense of duty.
B) military achievements and humility.
C) Christian morality tempered with a willingness to avenge wrongs.
D) levity and immorality.
E) ruthlessness and shrewdness.

Question 13

Unlike most other Italian intellectuals of his age,Niccolò Machiavelli was:

A) a great prose stylist in the vernacular.
B) an accomplished textual scholar.
C) a truly original thinker about politics.
D) a pagan, not a Christian.
E) well acquainted with Arabic literary styles.

Question 14

Although medieval scholars knew important classical authors such as Virgil and Cicero,the works of _________ were not fully known in western Europe until the Renaissance.

A) Aristotle
B) Plato
C) Ovid
D) Paul
E) Plutarch

Question 15

After Giotto's death,the next great Florentine painter was:

A) Sandro Botticelli.
B) Leonardo da Vinci.
C) Giovanni Bellini.
D) Masaccio.
E) Donatello.

Question 16

Historians today generally use the term Renaissance to refer to:

A) a period in economic history when trade was reborn.
B) a period in European history when the northern countries dominated the culture of the Continent.
C) a period in European history between 1300 and 1550, during which all aspects of European life were united by a common spirit of the age.
D) a period of intellectual rebirth after the Dark Ages, when learning had been extinguished.
E) a period in intellectual and cultural history, marked by a new interest in the study of classical learning.

Question 17

Humanists such as Alberti praised the nuclear family and argued that women should be:

A) consigned purely to domestic roles.
B) allowed to work as painters and sculptors.
C) encouraged to adopt children rather than raise their own.
D) educated and participate in public life as they were able.
E) able to rule as equals with men.

Question 18

Renaissance Neoplatonists sought to combine classical Platonic thought with:

A) vigorous diplomatic training and public service.
B) Islamic mysticism, theology, and ritual.
C) ancient mysticism and mainstream Christianity.
D) a rejection of the Jewish Kabbalah.
E) the precepts of the Jewish Kabbalah.

Question 19

Marsilio Ficino taught that human beings are capable of attaining their own salvation:

A) by understanding the separation of their souls from their bodies.
B) through a complete rejection of this world and constant prayer and solitude.
C) by engaging fully in ethical civic action.
D) through participating in all the sacraments.
E) by exercising their own talents to the fullest degree possible.

Question 20

One of the first handbooks of conduct written appeared during the period of the Renaissance and dealt with:

A) the proper behavior for students attending university.
B) guidelines for proper aristocratic conduct.
C) the proper role for wives in running their households.
D) the way children were to behave: be seen and not heard.
E) the proper conduct for religious pilgrims at religious shrines.

Question 21

Erasmus wrote works of all the following types EXCEPT:

A) humorous satires and dialogues.
B) Christian moral treatises.
C) letters to friends and contemporaries.
D) treatises of scholastic theology.
E) a Greek New Testament.

Question 22

One of the reasons Raphael's School of Athens is of interest is because:

A) many of Raphael's contemporaries are used as models for the various philosophers.
B) it is the first painting to make use of the newly discovered technique of single-point perspective.
C) it was the first painting to be completed in Italy using the new medium of oil.
D) it was the last painting of the Italian Renaissance done using the fresco technique.
E) Raphael utilized many of his apprentices to complete the work rather than work on it directly.

Question 23

After 1525,most Christian humanists:

A) embraced Protestant church reforms and became Protestants.
B) abandoned their humanistic studies in order to concentrate on church reform.
C) remained Catholic, while continuing to espouse their ideals of no ritualistic inward piety.
D) were silenced by the Inquisition.
E) worked as teachers in the various courts of Europe.

Question 24

Sculpture during the Renaissance broke with the past in that statuary:

A) would now be created only to use as memorials for those who had died.
B) could now be used as a part of tombs to honor the dead.
C) would now be incorporated into the supporting columns of triumphal arches.
D) could now be used instead of columns at the front of buildings.
E) now became freestanding figures "in the round."

Question 25

One important difference between the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance that followed was the northern:

A) reluctance to compose classical Latin prose in the style of Cicero.
B) appreciation for scholasticism and its central texts.
C) rejection of the church fathers as religious authorities.
D) interest in traditional Christian wisdom over classical virtues.
E) rejection of classicism in their approach to art.

Question 26

Which of the following Renaissance artists was most deeply influenced by the art of classical Greece?

A) Donatello
B) Michelangelo
C) Leonardo da Vinci
D) Botticelli
E) Titian

Question 27

Bellini and Titian were members of the so-called:

A) Platonic school of Athens.
B) Roman school serving the papacy.
C) Venetian school of the High Renaissance.
D) Florentine school of the High Renaissance.
E) Platonic School of Florence.

Question 28

After the 1525 battle of Pavia,Italy fell under the control of:

A) Louis XII, king of France.
B) Francis I, king of France.
C) Pope Clement VII.
D) an alliance of independent city-states led by Milan, Florence, and Venice.
E) Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor.

Question 29

Although born in Florence,Leonardo da Vinci ended his career in:

A) Germany, where Charles V was his patron.
B) Milan, where the Sforza duke was his patron.
C) Rome, where the pope was his patron.
D) Naples, where the king of Spain was his patron.
E) France, where the king, Francis I, was his patron.

Question 30

In Botticelli's Birth of Venus,the pagan goddess Venus was interpreted by some contemporary viewers as:

A) an allegory of spring.
B) chaste love, a Christian virtue.
C) Christ during the Last Supper.
D) Ginevra da Benici.
E) the Mona Lisa.

Question 31

Erasmus's subject in his book Colloquies was:

A) the art and architecture of his time.
B) scholastic learning.
C) dogmatism.
D) contemporary religious practices.
E) Christian pacifism and piety.

Question 32

The author of Utopia was:

A) Desiderius Erasmus.
B) Sir Thomas More.
C) Ulrich von Hutten.
D) Lorenzo Valla.
E) Guillaume de Machaut.

Question 33

Leonardo da Vinci's basic approach to painting was to:

A) produce as much saleable artwork as possible for his patrons.
B) emphasize the emotional content by distorting proportion and scale.
C) depict one central mood or emotion in each piece.
D) imitate nature as closely as possible.
E) relate his impression of his subject rather than simply duplicating it.

Question 34

Erasmus's work The Praise of Folly is written in the style of:

A) a serious moral treatise meant to offer guidance.
B) a scholarly edition of a basic Christian text.
C) a clever satire meant to show people the error of their ways.
D) parody of the books of the Christian Old Testament.
E) all of these: it contains elements of all four styles.

Question 35

A contributing economic factor in the decline of Renaissance Italy was the:

A) trial of Galileo.
B) High Renaissance censorship of Pope Paul IV.
C) Spanish payments of gold and silver to the people of Milan.
D) gradual shift of trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
E) destruction of Rome in 1529.

Question 36

The art of the period known as the Renaissance is noted for its development of:

A) vanishing point perspective.
B) the use of light and shade.
C) portrait paintings.
D) the use of classical themes.
E) all of these

Question 37

The first freestanding nude sculpture in western Europe since antiquity was created by the Florentine artist:

A) Donatello.
B) Michelangelo.
C) Leonardo da Vinci.
D) Botticelli.
E) Titian.

Question 38

Renaissance painting techniques of the fifteenth century included:

A) the use of light and dark shading.
B) the application of oil-based pigment on canvas.
C) precise anatomical renderings of the human body.
D) the use of linear perspective to depict three dimensions.
E) all of these

Question 39

During the first half of the sixteenth century,the most important artistic center in Renaissance Italy was:

A) Rome.
B) Florence.
C) Milan.
D) Venice.
E) Naples.

Question 40

As a textual scholar,Erasmus's crowning achievement was:

A) his edition of the New Testament in Greek and in Latin.
B) his edition and translation of Plato's dialogues.
C) his Colloquies.
D) his commentary on the works of Cicero.
E) his commentary on Utopia.

Question 41

In the Renaissance,classics were never thought of as superseding Christian faith.

Question 42

The Platonic Academy was a society of scholars who met to discuss politics.

Question 43

The painting of the Northern Renaissance differed from the painting of the previous era by its commitment to capturing the essence of human individuality as evidenced by:

A) Hans Holbein the Younger.
B) Albrecht Dürer.
C) Rogier van der Weyden.
D) Guillaume de Machaut.
E) Hans Holbein the Elder.

Question 44

The Renaissance transformed the _________ aspects of European life.

A) political and economic
B) religious
C) intellectual and artistic
D) religious and political
E) religious, political, and economic

Question 45

Machiavelli,in his book Discourses on Livy,attempted to show why the form of government of the old Roman Republic was unsuited to the Europe of his time.

Question 46

A "Renaissance Man" as defined in Castiglione's book The Courtier was considered to be one who could subordinate his personal morality to political ends.

Question 47

Francesco Landini was a Renaissance:

A) composer, famous for his secular music in the ars nova style.
B) composer, famous for his early Italian operas.
C) painter, famous for his sympathetic portrait of Erasmus.
D) architect, famous for his enlargement of the Louvre in the sixteenth century.
E) architect, famous for his design of the Château of Chambord.

Question 48

The literature of the Northern Renaissance:

A) broke completely with the past and created totally new forms of literature such as free verse.
B) developed many of the literary forms of the past, but also developed new forms such as the sonnet.
C) kept the literary forms developed during the Italian Renaissance, such as the sonnet, but also created one new form, the novel.
D) was more imitative than original, as it worked to develop the forms pioneered during the Italian Renaissance.
E) consisted, for the most part, in translating the new creations of Italy and the classical works of Greece.

Question 49

The humanist's insistence on ancient standards of Latin grammar and word choice turned Latin into a dead language.

Question 50

The philosophy Rabelais expressed in Gargantua and Pantagruel can best be described as:

A) exaggerated naturalism.
B) Christian muralist.
C) Neoplatonism.
D) monastic asceticism.
E) Neoclassicism.

Question 51

Albrecht Dürer was the first northern European artist to master:

A) Italian Renaissance developments in oil painting.
B) Italian Renaissance techniques of engraving.
C) Italian Renaissance techniques of proportion, perspective, and modeling.
D) the anatomical precision of Italian Renaissance nudes.
E) Italian Renaissance technique of tempura painting.

Question 52

Painting in oil rather than fresco gave the artist more time to work slowly and incorporate more complexities into a painting,as drying time was longer.

Question 53

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was:

A) a composer noted for his highly intricate polyphonic music.
B) a composer famous for his early Italian operas.
C) a painter famous for his sympathetic portrait of Thomas More.
D) an architect famous for his enlargement of the Louvre in the sixteenth century.
E) an architect famous for his design of Saint Peter's Basilica.

Question 54

The Renaissance intellectual ideal may be summarized in the term humanism.

Question 55

Beginning in France in the early fourteenth century and then spreading to Italy,a musical movement known as ___ became very popular.

A) plain song
B) muchautism
C) ars nova
D) chiaroscuro
E) canta romana

Question 56

Leonardo da Vinci revered nature and all living things to the point of becoming a vegetarian.

Question 57

In this chapter's photograph of Chambord in the Loire Valley [photograph 12.18],which features most resemble the traditional attributes of Gothic architecture?

A) the wide horizontal base structures
B) the vertical windows and bell towers
C) the two sets of rounded arches on the ground floor
D) the elaborate moat surrounding the castle
E) the multiple-storied building surrounded by green space

Question 58

Michelangelo's David was created to celebrate Florentine civic ideals.

Question 59

Petrarch thought the goal of a Christian writer was to inspire people to do good rather than concentrate on abstract speculation.

Question 60

The literature of the Northern Renaissance that drew upon the literary innovation of Ludovico Ariosto was created by:

A) Thomas More.
B) Desiderius Erasmus.
C) François Rabelais.
D) Albrecht Dürer.
E) Edmund Spenser.

Question 61

How did humanism help to usher in the tenets of Protestantism?

Question 62

What factors led to the decline of the Renaissance?

Question 63

What differences separated the twelfth-century Renaissance from the Italian Renaissance?

Question 64

In what ways did Erasmus embody the ideals of the Northern Renaissance?

Question 65

How was Utopia a critique of sixteenth-century society?

Question 66

What was the impact of the Renaissance on women?

Question 67

What was distinctively northern in the art and architecture of the Renaissance?

Question 68

Rabelais cloaked his satire in a common form of French and layered his message in vulgarity to reach a wide audience.

Question 69

Renaissance architects favored the Romanesque style,mistakenly believing it to be Roman and not medieval in origin.

Question 70

Erasmus believed that the entire society of his day was caught up in despair because of the inflexibility of ecclesiastical reform.

Question 71

In what ways did Leonardo da Vinci represent the ideal "Renaissance man"?

Question 72

What factors combined to make the Renaissance possible?

Question 73

What new techniques characterized Renaissance art?

Question 74

The tenets of humanism influenced the geometrical proportion of the floors of the great buildings because they reflected the harmony of the universe.

Question 75

Thomas More was put to death for not allowing Henry VIII to remarry.