Deck 14: Florence and the Early Renaissance: Humanism in Italy

Question 1

How did Filippo Brunelleschi construct his dome without temporary wooden scaffolding?

A)It was constructed on the ground and then hoisted into place.
B)Concrete was poured over a wooden form that stayed in place.
C)He invented a network of chains that eliminated the need for scaffolding.
D)The dome's ribs function as support,so scaffolding is part of the design.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The first to master the principle of scientific perspective was

A)Masaccio.
B)Donatello.
C)Filippo Brunelleschi.
D)Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Donatello depicts David as a young adolescent

A)because Florentine law dictated youth as a requirement for nude statuary.
B)to represent his own recollected youthful image as a veiled self-portrait.
C)to symbolize Florence's youthful vitality and ability to conquer tyrants.
D)because Cosimo commissioned a statue of a youth for his palace courtyard.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Donatello's David holds the distinction of being the first

A)statue to be placed in the Florence Cathedral.
B)life-size freestanding male nude since antiquity.
C)large statue commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici.
D)large cast-bronze statue since antiquity.

Question 5

Lorenzo Ghiberti's winning design for the doors of the Florence Baptistery differs from Filippo Brunelleschi's in that the

A)scene is a synoptic view.
B)figures are depicted in profile.
C)main action is on the side,not in the center.
D)figures are shown in contrapposto stances.

Question 6

Dufay's Nuper rosarum flores repeats the fixed melody on 6,4,2,and 3 units per breve to

A)smoothly blend the motet's two voices.
B)include each of the Florence Cathedral's seven organs.
C)mirror the proportions of Solomon's Temple and the Florence Cathedral.
D)increase the sonority of the combined voices and instruments.

Question 7

Piero Della Francesca painted Federigo de Montefeltro,duke of Urbino,in profile because

A)he wanted to imitate ruler Egyptian portraits.
B)the profile view was considered the most attractive.
C)Federigo was missing an eye and part of his nose.
D)he wanted to emphasize his subject's aristocratic nose.

Question 8

It is remarkable that a competition was held in 1401 to design the doors to the Florence Baptistery,given that scarcely over a half century earlier,the city had witnessed

A)as much as four fifths of its population succumb to the Black Death.
B)the military destruction of as much as four fifths of the cathedral's dome.
C)as much as fourth fifths of the Ghibelline population die at Guelph hands.
D)the military destruction of as much as four fifths of the baptistery.

Question 9

All of the following are desired of Baldassare Castiglione's l'uomo universale EXCEPT

A)participation in the arts.
B)fluency in many languages.
C)charity to the less fortunate.
D)accomplishment as a soldier.

Question 10

Why did Lorenzo de' Medici prefer frottole sung in Italian,not Greek or Latin?

A)Italian,he felt,was the most beautiful of languages for music.
B)Most Florentines did not understand Greek or Latin.
C)He wanted to establish himself as a "common man."
D)Frottole were secular songs,and Latin was reserved for religious music.

Question 11

Cosimo de' Medici founded Florence's Platonic Academy to

A)prevent Marsilio Ficino from moving to Rome.
B)give the artists he patronized a studio in which to work.
C)provide a place for the study and discussion of Plato's works.
D)educate his children and the children of other nobles.

Question 12

What implicit lesson did Andrea Mantegna's Camera Picta send to Ludovico Gonzaga,ruler of Mantua?

A)Attracting skilled artists adds prestige to a ruler.
B)A large family is a ruler's greatest asset.
C)Angels will watch over and protect a ruler.
D)A ruler is always in the public eye.

Question 13

The victor of the 1418 competition to create a dome for Florence Cathedral was

A)Michelozzo di Bartolommeo.
B)Filippo Brunelleschi.
C)Arnolfo di Cambio
D)Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Question 14

According to Pico della Mirandola in the Oration on the Dignity of Man,humans are "the most fortunate of living things," because of their great gift of

A)art.
B)grace.
C)free will.
D)philosophy.

Question 15

Plotinus thought that human perfection was

A)never attainable.
B)attainable in the afterlife only.
C)attainable in this world through contributions to the church.
D)attainable in this world through philosophical meditation.

Question 16

The humanists in Lorenzo's court have viewed Venus in Botticelli's Primavera as

A)the personification of carnal desire.
B)an allegory for the highest moral qualities.
C)the symbol of the Florentine republic.
D)a threat to man's free will.

Question 17

Lorenzo Ghiberti created a vivid sense of real space in his design by

A)casting each figure separately.
B)using foreshortening.
C)making extensive use of linear perspective.
D)showing figures from behind.

Question 18

Masaccio places the vanishing point in The Tribute Money behind Christ's head to

A)make the distant mountains seem larger.
B)emphasize the absence of the tax collector's halo.
C)make the figures behind Christ seem smaller.
D)identify Christ as the fresco's most important figure.

Question 19

The word "Renaissance" means

A)"humanism."
B)"apex."
C)"rebirth."
D)"exploration."

Question 20

The Medici were the most powerful family in Florence from 1418 to 1494,because they

A)were bankers to the papacy.
B)led the defeat of Milan's army.
C)headed the Wool Guild.
D)descended from longstanding nobility.

Question 21

Why did Medici supporters hurl stones at Michelangelo's David as it was moved through the streets?

A)They viewed the nude portrayal as inappropriate for David.
B)They considered Michelangelo a traitor to the exiled Medici.
C)They objected to the statue being moved from the Florence Cathedral's facade.
D)They understood David's symbolism of the city standing up to tyrants.

Question 22

Compare Donatello's David with Michelangelo's.

Question 23

Michelangelo's Moses has horns due to

A)a mistranslation of the Bible from Hebrew to Latin.
B)Renaissance belief that horns stood for power.
C)a personal act of revenge on Pope Julius for ordering him to paint the Sistine ceiling.
D)a convention for showing Moses's anger at the Hebrews for worshipping an idol.

Question 24

The Florence Baptistery door competition is considered to have begun the Italian Renaissance.Discuss the ways in which competition marked the intellectual and artistic explosion of the Renaissance.

Question 25

Summarize Castiglione's concept of l'uomo universale,connecting that concept with duty to government.

Question 26

Why was Michelangelo's David not placed on the Florence Cathedral's facade as was originally planned?

A)Church officials objected to its nudity.
B)The Medici family claimed it for their garden.
C)It could not be lifted there due to its size.
D)Michelangelo refused to part with it.

Question 27

Ludovico Sforza,duke of Milan,was interested in Leonardo da Vinci because he

A)could design great machines of war for him.
B)could help him earn his people's support.
C)agreed to paint Sforza's 16-year-old mistress.
D)could help heal a rift between Sforza and the Medici.

Question 28

Explain how the religiously extreme Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was able to wield such influence on post-Medici Florence.

Question 29

Explain Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man as a humanist manifesto,a document that Pope Innocent VIII considered heretical and even imprisoned Pico for writing.

Question 30

Explain the Medici family's contributions to humanist scholarship and art.

Question 31

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper fresco is unique for its

A)inclusion of Judas.
B)psychological realism.
C)use of oil paint.
D)inclusion of the Sforza crest.

Question 32

List and explain in your own words the four basic principles of rendering space in one-point perspective.

Question 33

Michelangelo represented David before,not after,his triumph over Goliath primarily to

A)emphasize David's confidence.
B)demonstrate a difference from Donatello's David.
C)show David's inner conflict.
D)portray David as an unconvincing hero.

Question 34

Identify and explain the symbolism in Botticelli's Primavera.

Question 35

The Florentines drove the Medici family from the city in 1494 upon the

A)urging of Savonarola,who proclaimed the Medici to be decadent.
B)conquest of the city by Ludovico Sforza's forces.
C)formation of an unpopular alliance between Piero de' Medici and the French king.
D)transfer of the papal funds from the Medici banks.

Question 36

Discuss the use of Brunelleschi's scientific or linear perspective by Masaccio in Trinity with the Virgin,Saint John the Evangelist,and Donors and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Question 37

Savonarola was able to gain political power in Florence by

A)lowering the taxes that had been imposed by the Medicis.
B)appealing to the Florentines' desire to reestablish a republic.
C)threatening to bring down the pope's wrath on the city.
D)distributing the deposed Medicis' wealth to the citizens.

Question 38

In Mona Lisa,Leonardo achieved the sfumato effect by

A)including extensive landscape in the background.
B)placing the vanishing point behind the subject's head.
C)juxtaposing the subject against a black background.
D)building up color with many layers of transparent oil paint.

Question 39

A trademark of many of Michelangelo's works,terribilitá,is a

A)moment of intense fright.
B)work of immense size.
C)contemplative expression.
D)terrifying and awesome force.

Question 40

Identify and explain the ways in which the Italian Renaissance in Florence was a rebirth of the Greco-Roman Classical beliefs and practices.