the art sub hub
Mystery of A Masterpiece
PBS- NOVA
2012
Name: __________________________________________________________________
Period/ Block: ____________________________________________________________
Questions:
1) What is the name of the master artist that may have created the image of the
mysterious woman on this DVD?
2) What was the price that Christies Auction house sold the painting for?
3) What years did Leonardo Da Vinci live?
4) Are there many works of art done by Da Vinci in existence today?
5) Proving Leonardo made this work of art has to be proven on three fronts. Circle
the correct answer:
a) Artistic, scientific, and color theory
b) Artistic, geometric and perspective
c) Artistic, scientific and historical
6) Do all art critics believe this is an original Da Vinci piece of art?
7) What is “Vellum”?
8) What type of “dating” do scientist use to predict the age of things that contain
carbon? Circle the best answer: paintings?
a) Carbon- 13
b) Carbon- 14
c) Carbon- 16
9) What were the results of the carbon dating on the vellum? Do the results
coincide with the period of time that Leonardo da Vinci was alive? Is the age of
the vellum linked to the Renaissance period?
10) Who is Leo Stevenson? How does he make his living?
11) How many hours did Stevenson spend in forging the Monet painting?
12) Was Leonardo left-handed or right handed? Was the drawing of the woman
done by someone left handed or right handed?
13) What was the value of the fingerprint found in the portrait?
14) Did Leonardo dissect human corpses himself, in order to understand human
anatomy; or did he have one of his apprentice do it for him?
15) To make the chalk stick to the vellum, what did Sarah Simblet use as a binder
(there were 2 different ‘binders’ she experimented with that Leonardo may have
use).
16) What is the most likely name of the girl in the portrait? Circle the best answer:
a) Catherine the Great
b) Bianca Sforza
c) Ludovico Sforza
17) How do they think the girl in the portrait died? Circle the best answer:
a) A troubled pregnancy
b) An allergic reaction to food
c) Plague
18) What do the 3 holes along the edge of the vellum suggest?
19) Do the 3 holes in the portrait, line up to 3 of the holes in the book found in
Poland?
20) How much did someone off the man that owns the portrait? If the work of art
were yours, would you sell it for that price? Or would you keep it and hope to
get more?
21) What do you think? Do you think the evidence given, proves to you that
Leonardo Da Vinci created this work of art? What evidence from the DVD made
you convinced? Use complete sentences and examples from the DVD to justify
your answer.