The Renaissance: rich city-states, new ideas and new ways of painting
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet
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Learning to paint depth (cards A to E; summaries in our words). Card A, a history summary: between 1415 and 1420 Filippo Brunelleschi, who lived from 1377 to 1446, made experiments with perspective. He painted buildings in Florence on small panels with a hole in them, and a viewer looked through the hole at a mirror to compare the painting with the real scene. Both panels have since been lost. Card B: in 1435 Leon Battista Alberti wrote On Painting, which describes linear perspective and credits Brunelleschi. Card C: Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists was published in 1550. For Brunelleschi it drew on an earlier biography by Antonio Manetti. Card D: linear perspective uses lines that meet at a vanishing point, so a flat picture looks deep. Card E, Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks (a summary, not a quotation): perspective is like looking through a clear sheet of glass and drawing on the glass what lies behind it.
Card A's experiments ended in 1420 and card C's book appeared in 1550. About how many years later was the book, Ari asks?
- 130 years
- 30 years
- 135 years
- 2,970 years, the dates combined
Brunelleschi lived from 1377 to 1446, and card B says Alberti wrote in 1435. How old was Brunelleschi in 1435, Bo asks?
- 48 years old
- 58 years old
- 69 years old, his age at the end of his life
- 11 years old, the years left in 1446
Card A's experiments ran from 1415 to 1420 and card B's book appeared in 1435. How many years from the end of the experiments, and from their start, Esme asks?
- 15 years and 5 years
- 15 years and 20 years
- 20 years and 15 years
- 5 years and 20 years
What kind of source is card C for Brunelleschi's experiments, Jun asks?
- A letter written by Brunelleschi to Alberti about the mirror
- A source written about 130 years later, from an earlier biography
- An eyewitness record written while the experiments took place in Florence
- A museum label written by a historian of today
Card A says both panels are lost. How do we know about the experiments, Kira asks?
- From the panels themselves, which are kept in a museum in Florence
- From later accounts such as Manetti's biography, not the panels
- From Alberti's drawings of the mirror, which are on card B
- From photographs of the panels taken in the 1400s
A student says, "Card B proves Brunelleschi invented perspective." How strong is that claim, Luz asks?
- Strong: card A shows he was the sole person to study perspective
- Weak: a book written in 1435 cannot be used as evidence
- Weak: card B is one writer's credit, and the panels are lost
- Strong: Alberti credits him in a book, so the credit is settled
Which link do the cards show directly, Noah asks?
- Alberti's book credits Brunelleschi, so it builds on his work
- Brunelleschi credits Alberti, so Brunelleschi's work came later
- Leonardo's notebook credits Alberti, so Leonardo used Alberti's book
- Vasari credits Leonardo, so the book of 1550 came first
Who was Alberti's book On Painting aimed at, and why, Pia asks?
- Merchants who wanted to buy paintings at a lower price from artists
- Children who needed a first picture book to learn their letters
- Scribes who copied books in monasteries and wanted more work
- Painters who could use a method of perspective that can be learned
Card A's panels let a viewer compare a painting with the real scene. What goal does that suggest, Ren asks?
- To teach viewers to read the writings of Cicero
- To show that paintings should look flat and decorative
- To show that mirrors are better than paintings
- To make a painted scene match what the eye sees
Vasari drew on Manetti, and both wrote after Brunelleschi's life ended. What follows, Zee asks?
- Ignore both, since they were not alive in 1420
- Trust Vasari fully, since he wrote the better-known book
- Look for other evidence too, such as Alberti's book
- Trust Manetti less, since he wrote before Vasari
