Show:
Leonardo da Vinci
The Later Medici & Medici
Popes
Miscellaneous
Savonarola's Florence
100
Da Vinci's version of THIS crucial event in the final week of Jesus' life is certainly his most famous painting after the Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

100

When the first "Medici Pope" - 2nd son of Lorenzo the Magnificent - was elected in 1513, he famously remarked "God has granted us the papacy, let us enjoy it."

Leo X

100

This painter was extensively employed in Rome during the late Renaissance. His graceful style and excellent compositional skills earned him a place among the elite triad of High Renaissance artists, which also included Da Vinci and Michelangelo. 

Raphael

100

When Charles VIII invaded Italy and approached Florence with his army, Piero the Unfortunate attempted a misguided imitation of his father by __________________ . Ultimately, it was Savonarola's charismatic religious fervor which convinced Charles to spare Florence from a sacking.

Placing himself voluntarily into the hands of the enemy to prove his cunning and bravery

200
Da Vinci, paranoid about his competitors stealing his ideas, used this famous security measure in recording his ideas and invention.

backward writing

200
Due the manner in which the Great Schism had ended, both Medici popes were hesitant to do THIS in response to spread of Protestantism. The Catholic Church ultimately waited until 1545 to take this crucial step, by which time the Reformation and breakup of Catholic Europe had become irreversible.

Call a General Church Council

200

Michelangelo's sculpture Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II, depicted the great prophet with _________ . This odd feature was often placed on medieval/Renaissance depictions of Moses due to a misinterpretation of the Hebrew word for "illumination"

horns

200

Savonarola in apocalyptic preaching, stroked the Florentines' ego by promising that Florence would be the new ___________ .

Jerusalem

300

Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man sketch was an exposition of his knowledge which he gained by breaking THIS rule of the Medieval Catholic Church

Dissection of cadavers

300

While a virtual prisoner of Charles V, Pope Clement VII received a messenger from King Henry VIII requesting THIS...for which the timing could not possibly have been worse.

a divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon ---- the aunt of Charles V 

300

In Renaissance Italy, the artists were often employed by rulers to produce public pittura infamante, paintings which depicted ______________ .

The execution or torture of criminals

300

The Piagnoni were _____________ who were fanatically devoted Savonarola; they went about Florence pressuring citizens to give up luxuries and other "excess" valuables on behalf of the poor. Machiavelli sneeringly referred to them as "snivelers"

youths

400
When Louis XII invaded Milan during the Italian Wars, Leonardo was working on a monumental bronze _________ statue. The French soldiers mockingly used the collected bronze for canon balls and the small scale model he was using as target practice.

Horse

400

This event - which happened on the watch of Clement VII in 1527 - emboldened the anti-Medici party at Florence to drive out the current ruler who was that pope's illegitimate son (Alessandro de Medici). This resulted in the final Florentine Republic 1527-1530.

The Sack of Rome

400

Botticelli produced four famous artworks depicting Greek mythological scenes; the first such major artworks in the West in essentially 1000 years. TWO of these include:

Birth of Venus

Prima Vera (Springtime)

Mars and Venus

Athena and the Centaur

400

Although papal and Florentine officials had grown weary of Savonarola's preaching, the Florentine citizenry turned on him and his Dominican allies after the Franciscans challenged him to prove that God was truly behind his prophecies. After public arguments over the rules of this _____________, a rainstorm ultimately ended it prematurely. The people thereafter stormed the San Marco monastery. 

Trial by Fire

500

Leonardo da Vinci was employed as a military engineer for about 1 year during the campaigns of this famous Renaissance villain 

Cesare Borgia

500
Piero the Unfortunate, eldest son of Lorenzo de Medici, reigned 2 years and was driven from power during the invasion of Charles VIII. After several unsuccessful attempts to regain Florence, he ultimately died in this rather inglorious manner.

Drowning in his armor while crossing a river

500

After executing the Pazzi Conspirators, the Papacy and its allies declared war on Florence. In a bold yet successful gamble, Lorenzo heroically traveled to Naples and placed himself into the hands of the famously cruel King _____________ .

Ferrante

500

Following the exile of the Medici in 1494, Savonarola exerted great influence upon the formation of the new Florentine Republic which lasted until the Medici returned in 1512.  Its most popular feature among the citizenry was THIS large legislative body, whose generous qualifications for membership made it the most democratic institution in the history of Renaissance Italy.

the Grand Council