Question 1

Where was Leonardo da Vinci born? Name the country and

the town.

Question 1

Where was Leonardo da Vinci born? Name the country and the town.

Answer: Vinci, Italy

*Leonardo did not have a real last name, but his full birth name was: Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci. This means “Leonardo, son of Pierofrom Vinci”.

Question 2

What year was Leonardo born in?

Question 2

What year was Leonardo born in?

Answer: 1452

Question 3

True or False: Leonardo came from a very

wealthy family.

Question 3

True or False: Leonardo came from a very wealthy

family.

Answer: False*Leonardo’s mother was a peasant and

she was not married to Leonardo’s father when he was born. This was unusual back then, and it had a big impact on his future.

Question 4

As a teenager, Leonardo moved to Florence, where he worked for a painter named Verrocchio. What was Leonardo’s job?

Answer: Leonardo was Verrocchio’s apprentice, or student assistant.

Verrocchio, Baptism of Christ, 1472-1475

This is Verrocchio’s Baptism of Christ.

Verrocchio asked his assistant, Leonardo to paint one of the angels.

Which one do you think he painted?

Like most other artists of the time, Verrocchio used egg-based tempera paint. Leonardo used oil based paint for his angel.

When Leonardo revealed his angel, other artists in Verrocchio’s workshop were shocked by its beauty.

Legend has it, Verrocchio swore that he would never paint again.

Question 5What is the name of this artwork?

Question 5What is the name of this artwork?

Answer: The Last Supper

Question 6This artwork was painted on plaster. What is a painting on plaster called?

Question 6This artwork was painted on plaster. What is a painting on plaster called?

Answer: Fresco

Leonardo was a notoriously slow worker. He decided to paint The Last Supper on dry plaster instead of wet plaster, to give himself more time to

work on it. This was a HUGE mistake!Moister started to rise from the dry plaster (probably because the

monastery’s kitchen is on the other side of the fresco wall) and paint started to chip away almost immediately.

Doh!

It probably looked like this when he first completed it.

Question 6

The Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world. In Italian, this painting’s name is “La Gioconda”.

What does La Gioconda mean?

Question 6

The Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world. In Italian, this painting’s name is “La Gioconda”.

What does La Gioconda mean?

Answer: The Joker

Question 7

Today, the Mona Lisa lives at the Louvre. What city is the Louvre in?

Question 7

Today, the Mona Lisa lives at the Louvre. What city is the Louvre in?

Answer: Paris, France

Question 8

In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen

from the Louvre. Which famous

artist was suspected of stealing her?

*Hint: He or she is in this room!

Question 8

In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. Which famous artist was

suspected of stealing her?

*Hint: He or she is in this room!

Answer: Pablo Picasso

“Wasn’t me!”

When the Mona Lisa was stolen, people suspected an artist name Apollinaire, because he had written about burning the Louvre down.

Apollinaire tried to blame the crime on Picasso. Picasso was brought in for questioning, but as it turns out, the real thief was a Louvre employee!

“Not cool, man.”

Question 9

In his notebooks, Leonardo used “mirror writing”. What is mirror writing and why did Leonardo do it?

Question 9

Answer: Mirror writing is writing letters and words backwards, from the right side of the page to the left.

*He did this for 2 reasons…

Question 9

1. Leonardo was very secretive, and he didn’t want people to steal his

ideas.

Question 9Leonardo was left-handed, which made it easier for him to write from right to left. Because his mother and father weren’t married, he was not allowed to attend school. If he had gone to school, he would have been forced to write and draw with his right hand.

Question 10

True or False:Leonardo

worked very quickly and created over

100 paintings.

Leonardo da Vinci, St. John the Baptist

Question 10

Answer: FalseLeonardo worked very

slowly and believed that 99% of an artist’s work

is done in his or her head.

He only completed

9 paintings!!

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna and Child with St. Anne, 1508

However…

Leonardo left the world over 6,000 drawings and notebook pages!