Q 01/05

According to Vasari, Donatello kept money for friends and assistants to take freely in which unusual place?

A) An unlocked chest

B) A hanging basket

C) A hollow statue

D) A loose floorboard

Answer · why

B) A hanging basket

A hanging basket on a cord from the workshop ceiling held the cash, in a story also told by an earlier writer. Donatello was well liked but rather poo...

Q 02/05

Donatello's bronze David, the first freestanding male nude since antiquity, wears boots and which other item?

A) A cloak

B) A sash

C) A hat

D) A sword belt

Answer · why

C) A hat

A hat is all he wears besides the boots, which only makes his nakedness more striking. Earlier Florentine statues of David, including Donatello's own ...

Q 03/05

According to Vasari, what did Donatello do to his Saint Mark during two weeks under cover after a guild rejected it?

A) Recarved the saint's head

B) Painted it bright colours

C) Swapped in a copy

D) Left it untouched

Answer · why

D) Left it untouched

Left it untouched: he simply had the statue lifted into its niche, where proportions planned for viewing from below looked right. The guild happily ac...

Q 04/05

According to legend, Donatello shouted which command at his lifelike marble prophet Zuccone while carving it?

A) Walk

B) Speak

C) Breathe

D) Wake up

Answer · why

B) Speak

Speak was the order, the story goes, shouted at a figure known for its startling realism. The statue is reported to have been Donatello's favourite, a...

Q 05/05

Italy's David di Donatello awards, named after the sculptor's famous statue, honour the best work in which field?

A) Opera

B) Fashion

C) Poetry

D) Film

Answer · why

D) Film

Film is the field: the prizes, founded in 1955, are voted by people inside the industry and are considered Italy's equivalent of the Academy Awards.