CHAPTER 12 Precursors of the Renaissance
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of the following was NOT a 14th-century humanist?
a. Boccaccio
b. Petrarch
c. Giotto
d. Dante
e. Cimabue
Answer: e
2. Which of the following was NOT part of the Classical revival?
a. anecdotes about artists
b. comparisons with antiquity
c. three-dimensional form
d. translating Latin texts
e. a rejection of Italian history
Answer: e
3. Which is NOT a feature of the Divine Comedy?
a. It was written in Latin.
b. Virgil is Dante’s guide through hell and pergatory.
c. It is divided into three parts.
d. It is a source for Italian history.
Answer: a
4. The painter Cimabue was deeply influenced by
a. the court of Charlemagne.
b. Byzantine icons.
c. Giotto.
d. Claus Sluter.
Answer: b
5. The monastic order that put an emphasis on nature and the individual was
a. Cistercian.
b. Benedictine.
c. Dominican.
d. Franciscan.
Answer: d
6. The Arena Chapel in Padua
a. is part of a larger church.
b. is Gothic in style.
c. illustrates Dante’s Divine Comedy.
d. represents three sets of lives.
Answer: d
7. In the Arena Chapel, the Virtues and Vices
a. are in the top row of scenes.
b. are in between the narrative scenes.
c. are below the narrative scenes.
d. are on the ceiling.
Answer: c
8. In the Arena Chapel scene of the Annunciation
a. Gabriel tells Mary she will be the mother of Christ.
b. God tells Mary she will be the mother of Christ.
c. Mary tells Joseph she will be the mother of Christ.
d. Mary has a dream telling her she will be the mother of Christ.
Answer: a
9. What event in Padua fostered an interest in Classical thought and literature?
a. Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel
b. a tempera panel found in the Scrovegni Chapel
c. the opening of a Roman theater
d. professional interest in Roman law
Answer: d
10. Which is NOT true of Giotto’s Crucifixion?
a. It refers to typology.
b. It takes place in Jerusalem.
c. It depicts the effects of gravity.
d. Christ’s form is elongated.
e. It emphasizes the distinction between the Romans and Christ’s followers.
Answer: b
11. The length of Mary Magdalen’s hair in Giotto’s Crucifixion is an example of
a. a Renaissance coiffure.
b. her seductive nature.
c. an iconographic convention.
d. a typological symbol.
Answer: c
12. The Roman soldiers in the foreground of Giotto’s Crucifixion
a. are torturing Christ.
b. are arguing over possession of his cloak.
c. are repenting their sins.
d. are leaving the scene.
Answer: b
13. Which is NOT true of Giotto’s Last Judgment?
a. Christ is seated in a mandorla.
b. Enrico Scrovegni’s portrait is included.
c. Christ faces the saved.
d. only the figures in hell are nude.
e. the angels above Christ are in military dress.
Answer: d
14. Giotto’s Virtue of Justice
a. reflects emerging ideas about good and bad government.
b. is represented as blind.
c. shows Justice seated in a Renaissance building.
d. has no relationship to Classical antiquity.
Answer: a
15. Giotto was important because he
a. went back to nature as his guide, as had the Greeks and Romans.
b. used direct experience to judge truth.
c. believed that what we see is the basis of art.
d. All these answers are correct.
Answer: d
16. Which of the following had the LEAST influence on Giotto?
a. International Style
b. Cimabue
c. Gothic French sculpture
d. art of ancient Rome
Answer: a
17. Which is NOT true of St. Francis of Assisi?
a. He wrote The Canticle of Brother Sun.
b. He came from a wealthy family.
c. He received the stigmata as punishment for his sins.
d. He established the Friars Minor.
Answer: c
18. In contrast to Duccio’s Maestà, Lorenzetti’s Effects of Good Government
a. is secular.
b. is more Byzantine in style.
c. is more Christian in its iconography.
d. was commissioned by the Nine.
e. is a reflection of the influence of International Gothic.
Answer: a
19. Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Good Government was commissioned for the Palazzo Pubblico of
a. Siena.
b. Urbino.
c. Florence.
d. Rome.
Answer: a
20. “The mortal pestilence” described by Boccaccio refers to
a. the sinfulness of Florence.
b. the failure of the Bardi and Peruzzi banks.
c. the triumph of Death.
d. the Black Death.
Answer: d
21. Which is NOT an example of royal patronage?
a. Simone Martini’s Saint Louis Altarpiece
b. the Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
c. the Well of Moses
d. the Maestà
Answer: d
22. Who is the sculptor of the Well of Moses?
a. Giotto
b. Claus Sluter
c. Tilman Riemenschneider
d. Cimabue
Answer: b
23. Claus Sluter’s work was like
a. Simone’s in its lightness.
b. Giotto’s in its massiveness.
c. Cimabue’s in its Byzantine finish.
d. Michelangelo’s in its Greek classicism.
Answer: b
24. Philip the Bold’s court was located at
a. Siena.
b. Berry.
c. Dijon.
d. Flanders.
Answer: c
25. Philip the Bold of Burgundy built the
a. Chartreuse de Champmol.
b. Hopital des Invalides.
c. Palazzo Pubblico of Siena.
d. Town Hall of Ghent.
Answer: a
26. Books of Hours were made for
a. the clergy.
b. the peasants.
c. artists.
d. the aristocracy.
Answer: d
27. The patron of the Trés Riches Heures was
a. Jean, Duc de Berry.
b. Giovanni Arnolfini.
c. Tommaso Portinari.
d. Philip the Bold.
Answer: a
28. Which of these is NOT a correct match?
a. Limbourg brothers – Very Rich Hours
b. Dante – The Canticle of Brother Sun
c. Orcagna – Triumph of Death
d. Martini – Annunciation
Answer: b
Key Works
Nicola Pisano, pulpit, Pisa Baptistry, 1259–1260
Nicola Pisano, relief of the Nativity, also showing the Annunciation, the Annunciation to the
Shepherds, and the Washing of the Infant Christ, pulpit, Pisa Baptistry, 1259–1260
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, c. 1280–1290
Giotto, Madonna Enthroned (Ognissanti Madonna), c. 1310
Interior view, looking east, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Annunciation, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Crucifixion, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Last Judgment, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Last Judgment, detail, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Justice, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Injustice, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Giotto, Stigmatization of Saint Francis, exterior of the Bardi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence,
after 1317
Duccio, Rucellai Madonna, 1285, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
John White, photo montage of Duccio’s Maestà (front), 1308–1311
Duccio, Maestà, from Siena Cathedral, 1308–1311
John White, photo montage of Duccio’s Maestà (back), 1308–1311
Kiss of Judas, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, early 6th century
Duccio, Kiss of Judas, from the Maestà, Siena Cathedral, 1308–1311
Giotto, Kiss of Judas, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the City the Country, Sala della Pace,
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 1338–1339
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, detail showing soldiers attacking a woman, from the Effects of Bad
Government, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 1338–1339
Simone Martini, Saint Louis Altarpiece, c. 1317
Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333
Andrea Orcagna, detail showing figures invoking Death, from the Triumph of Death, c. 1360
Andrea Orcagna, detail showing two men watching an eclipse of the sun, from the Triumph of
Death, c. 1360
Claus Sluter, portal, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, 1385–1393
Claus Sluter, Virgin Mary and Christ, central trumeau of portal, Chartreuse de Champmol,
Dijon, 1385–1393
Claus Sluter, Well of Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, begun 1395
Limbourg Brothers, Annunciation, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416
Limbourg Brothers, January, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416
Maps, Diagrams, and Projections
Map of leading art centers during the Renaissance in western Europe
Diagram of an altar and altarpieces
Key Terms
altarpiece
Apocrypha
arriccio
diptych
gesso
giornata
intonaco
pinnacles
predella
sinopie (sinopia)
stigmata
stigmatization
triptych