Product Description
Black & white frontispiece and illustrations, some on glossy paper. 140 pages + 8 pages of advertisements for other volumes of the series. Series re-edited by Horace Shipp and Flora Kendrick. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in France, Serge Bramly's acclaimed biography reveals Leonardo to be as complicated, seductive, and profoundly sympathetic as the figures he painted. Bramly spent five years gathering evidence to reconstruct the artist's life--from his early years as an illegitimate child to his death in the arms of the King of France. Four pages of color photographs; 75 B&W photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Art should act on people, disturb and influence them (L. da Vinci)
Against the background of relentless warring about and between the Italian city States, Serge Bramly brushes a complete and in depth portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, his vision on art, the man, his philosophy and religion, the artist (painter, sculptor, architect), the civil and military engineer and the scientist (hydraulics, optics, acoustics, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, anatomy).

Leonardo's vision on art
For Leonardo, art should not be ornamental, but act on people, disturb and influence them. He set thereby an ambitious and formidable goal for himself and also for all true art-ists (not only painters) after him. His paintings are the most vandalized in the entire history of art and have been attacked with stones and knives. One was even burned (Leda).
His vision on art was adopted and adapted by Schopenhauer.

The man
Leonardo was a bastard: `As the illegitimate child of a small-time notary, he could have no hope of a traditional career.' At the age of 17-18 (very late) he found a job as an apprentice in a painting shop (bottega).
There are plenty of indications that Leonardo was gay. He had a weakness for bad boys with pretty faces. He was even accused of sodomy. But in the Renaissance homosexuality was socially acceptable, if discreet.
On the other hand, Leonardo considered the flesh pleasure to be dangerous and absurd, being responsible not only for the absurd multiplication of human beings, but also for various diseases.
After the `gay affair' (and perhaps a few days in prison), he hid his beauty under a long beard. He lived in secrecy, but still in constant fear of malicious gossip which could arouse scandal, a bad reputation and loss of liberty.

Philosophy, religion
His moral philosophy was based on a single maxim: respect all life.
Leonardo was a deist and a staunch anticlericalist. He despised the priests, 'who trade in simulated miracles duping the foolish multitude'. He protested against the sale of indulgences, obligatory confession and the cult of the saints. In the commercial exploitation of pious objects, he saw `Christ once more being sold and crucified and his saints martyred.'

The artist
He was hired by the bottega of Andrea Verrochio, an innovator, who taught him not to repeat what had already been done, not to become a vulgar copyist.
Under the influence of Giotto, he returned to nature as a source of inspiration.
Technically, he adopted Masaccio's solution for creating relief (`the very soul of painting').
In his whole life, he completed only 9 paintings.

Based on Giorgio Vasari's work (`Life of the Artists') and Leonardo's Notebooks, Serge Bramly wrote a sublime biography of one of the first artists with a `real' mission in the history of art.
A must read for all those interested in Western (art) history.

This book crackes the code...
Are you a fan of the Da Vinci Code movie or book? Then this book might not be your cup of tea.

Leonardo: The Artist and the Man covers the real life and era of this legendary painter, sculptor and inventor. Sorting out the life of this genius must have taken the author years to conclude, as Leonardo left thousands of manuscripts, sketches and unfinished paintings behind. Throw into the mix the fact that most paintings have been finalized by his helps and restorated throughout the centuries by incompetent painters and you've got yourself a huge mess to sort out.

Yet this book grabs the core of the man Leonardo. He was versatile, untiring, dedicated to learning and not confined to just one trade. Apart from being a great book to read, you can really learn something from it. As Leonardo always figured, everything is in relation with each other. Although jobs are far more professionalized nowadays, this is still very much true.

So if you're interested in his works or if you want to learn more about one of the legendary historic figures the 16th century had to offer, grab a copy of this book. It will not only extend your own boundaries, but is a great read as well put into a delicate perspective by the writer.

An excellent summary of an amazing life
This is a well written biography of an amazing man. Leonardo's accomplishments are placed within the context of the history happening around him, providing many alleys to explore.

So much you probably didn't know
Amazing book of the man everyone knows.He was ahead of his time filled with ideas and an intellect which added depth to all his interests.

The genius that is Leonardo from a different perspective
This book is more than a simple biography.Mr Bramly writes about his subject with such warmth and familiarity that you forget this is all based on meticulous research, that our subject died nearly 500 years ago and that only a small portion of his art, inventions and writings remain.Far from a dry "birth to death" review, this book has succeeded in bringing the multi-faceted genious that is Leonardo to life - not as an unaccessable giant but as a dreamer, inventer, loyal son, adventurer, self-educated scholar, perfectionist ... all the while possessing of a tortured soul.This is by far one of the most readable and well written biographies I have read and I applaud Mr Bramly for writing such a scholarly information-pacted page turner. ... Read more

Product Description
Most of what we know about Leonardo da Vinci, we know because of his notebooks. Some 6,000 sheets of notes and drawings survive, perhaps one-fifth of what he actually produced. With an artist's eye and a scientist's curiosity, he recorded in these pages his observations on the movement of water and the formation of rocks, the nature of flight and optics, anatomy, architecture, sculpture, and painting.He jotted down fables, epigrams, and letters and developed his belief in the sublime unity of nature and man. Through his notebooks we can get an insight into Leonardo's thoughts, and his approach to work and life. This selection, organized in seven themed sections, offers a fascinating and informative sample of his writings. Fully updated, this new edition includes some 70 line drawings and a Preface by Martin Kemp, one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo, who explores the artist's genius and the contents and legacy of his manuscripts. The book also features new notes and a chronology of Leonardo's life. ... Read more

Product Description
A representative selection of Leonardo's various achievements: drawings of plants, landscapes, human face and figure, etc., as well as studies for The Adoration of the Magi, Sforza monument, The Last Supper, more. 60 illustrations.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Shame on Dover Art Library!
Absolutely horrible print quality. Did you get these pictures from internet?

Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

was an Italian Renaissance polymath:



an architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the " Renaissance man" and as a universal genius, a man infinitely curious and infinitely inventive. He is also considered one of the greatest painters that ever lived.


Portrait in red chalk, circa 1512 to 1515, widely (though not universally) accepted as a genuine self-portrait.In his lifetime, Leonardo - he had no surname in the modern sense; "da Vinci" simply means "from Vinci" - was an engineer, artist, anatomist, physiologist and much more.



His full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, of ser Piero from Vinci". Leonardo is famous for his paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, as well as for influential drawings such as the Vitruvian Man. He designed many inventions that anticipated modern technology, such as the helicopter, tank, use of solar power, the calculator, etc., though few of these designs were constructed or were feasible in his lifetime. In addition, he advanced the study of anatomy, astronomy, and civil engineering. Of his works, only a few paintings survive, together with his notebooks (scattered among various collections) containing drawings, scientific diagrams and notes.

Don't waste your money
The print quality is so low and I can hardly see anything.forget it.

Digital download version is terrible
I was very disappointed in the quality of the Adobe Reader version I downloaded. I don't know if the other reviewers were reviewing hard copy versions or digital downloads. A hard copy version might be OK, but the digital version is not worth a cent in my opinion. I was hoping to be able to make some small letter-size posters for my office at work, but the resolution was so poor I don't think any of the drawings will be usable. My recommendation is don't waste your money on the download.

Not very good
The reprints in this book are of absoultely terrible quality. If you are planning to use them as sources for drawings forget it! There are other Dover books that are better such as Sargent's. This book is of no use at all. ... Read more

Product Description
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most outstanding intellectuals of the Renaissance. An entirely self taught intellectual giant, he was endlessly curious about the physical world. His notebooks reveal the breadth of his research into subjects as diverse as anatomy, botany, physics, and engineering, including his extraordinary anticipation of modern technology. The author traces his life from birth through to his apprenticeship in Florence and work in Milan, Rome and Amboise. His skill as an artist is captured in reproductions of pages from his beautifully illustrated notebooks, and masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent primer on the life of a unique genius.
This small, well organized, and beautifully illustrated book is an unexpectedly thorough and complete reference on the life of Leonardo da Vinci, from his birth in Italy to his death in France.
Chronologically organized and succinctly written, but without being a mere biography, this book presents a well-researched portrait of one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance. Often citing historical sources and quoting entries from the artist's own notebooks, the author presents an insightful account of Leonardo's views, research and achievements in both art and science, as well as many firmly accepted anecdotes and little-known facts about his character and personal life.
For those interested in a deeper treatment of the subject, the choice bibliographic reference titled Further Reading, located at the back of the book, will be of particular value.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar

Compact, comprehensive, with great pictures
I really enjoyed this very good entry-level treatise on L.d.V. In myopinion the emphasis is correctly placed and pictures of great quality(although some are small in size) help the reader grasp the essence ofLeonardo's spirit and become familiar with the best-known parts of hiswork. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (20)

Looking into the mind of a master...
This book is very intriguing reading for any fan of Leonardo da Vinci! It does lack any drawing/images, but is an excellent collection of his writings.

The Mind of a Genius
Step into the mind of a true genius! This book is filled with Leonardo's insightful thoughts and interpretations about a wide variety of topics such as: the elements, flight, art, and even some short tales. It contains a small biography of Leonardo giving the reader a good sense of setting. It also organizes Leonardo's notebooks into basic and easy to follow categories, allowing the reader to pick and choose what interests them the most. This makes the book a joy to read. It does not have to be read front to back; the reader is able to skip around and read what they feel like at that moment. On the downside there are a few minor details that damper its enjoyment. The first is the enormous amount of references to manuscripts. In the reading they have annotations which point to the back where the manuscripts are listed, but this creates confusion while reading, since many of the references are not well known. The other downside is the lack of illustrations. Even though there are a couple integrated into the writing, Leonardo was known for his many sketches, and the lack of these leaves the reader with a sense of emptiness for Leonardo's thoughts. Overall this book is a well organized piece of Leonardo Da Vinci's deepest thoughts, allowing the reader to dive into the mind of a mastermind.

Do you want to read or look at the art of Da Vinci?
I'm not much of a reader and it's not blatantly spelled out in this book's description BUT if you're looking for a book with DaVinci's art DO NOT LOOK HERE!

The Biggest Disappointment
With pictures all over the CD I was led to believe that at least minimal effort would have gone into including at least some of the illustrations from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks.Not one illustration is included on the CD let alone the complete works. :( While having the footnotes is potentially useful for scholars, having the illustrations would have been far better.

The product description needs to be re-written to include the fact that this is a text only presentation and thus not as complete as the title leads one to believe. In fact, the title should be properly revised as well because it is deceptive.

The first Renaissance man
Nothing of Leonardo DAVinci's sketchbooks were published until the 20th century.These are some of the most important documents of the Renaissance, and they did not become known until the 20th century.There are still people who do not know how important this work was.His anatomical studies were a watershed moment, because they introduced visual diagrams as the standard for communicating knowledge of the body and self.This was no more and no less than the conviction that the true knowledge of the shape of any body could only be arrived at by seeing it from different aspects.The truth of the body, the truth of the human being can only be discovered by looking at the body from multiple aspects, like; level, motion, perspective, transformation and growth.He opened up the body, it had always been closed, now its open.Now, what goes on inside the body is going to give us the essence of what it means to be human.It is the internal struggle, the self with the self, within .you.When you look at his sketchbooks, you see just one place where the whole world opens up.

Leonardo DAVinci-- Leonardo DAVinci invented the modern self.He invented the modern self precisely in this way, through the perspective of disappearance.What he tells reality and us about the self is that it only exists by that which is perceived by the eye.Reality is a product of nature; reality is that which we perceive by the eye.Reality is only that by which we can see.Moreover, in his notebooks he gives us another foundational belief about the human subject and its form.That the sound rules are the issue of sound experience and observation.Experience and observation can only be our best teacher.Of course, this is also, what Voltaire is telling us to by the way.The challenge comes when we realize that we are both to the subject observing and the object that is observed.In our search for self, we experience a kind of division between our constitutions as objects and our constitution as subjects.However, when we look at the human form, when we look at the self we find that the body is in harmony with nature, and that it is in harmony within nature.How does DA Vinci make these kinds of claims?Alternatively, how does he ground these kinds of claims with the function of the eye or the power of the eye?Well, one of the ways he does it is thru the camera obscura.Earliest record of use of camera obscura is in DA Vinci's writings.The camera obscura gave birth to the science of optics, the science of seeing.It is with DA Vinci, that the science of seeing became the foundation of self-representation, a representation called the self, thus the representation of the human form.Now DA Vinci embodied his own concept of the painter, as philosophers.He saw painters principally as natural philosophers.To him, nature was all important, absolute, the image of the eternal.In one very significant passage of his notebooks, he defines the relationship of art to nature and its process of evolution."The painter will produce pictures of small merit, if he takes for his standard the pictures of others.If he will study from natural objects, he will bear good fruit, as was seen in the painters after the Romans always imitating each other until their art constantly declined from age to age.Therefore, this was paramount for him in some ways what he was doing, and thinking was very radical and revolutionary and in other ways, it was very traditional.He appears to be quite a traditionalist, he studied ancient sources, Greeks, medieval sources, he studied anatomy, and these traditions get him to compare the microcosm of the body and the macrocosm of the world.These analogies extend to everything that he attempted to trace, to record and to know about the human form.Comparisons between the arteries in the body and the underground rivers of the earth.The flow of blood to the head in relation to the circulation of water to the summits of mountains.How does blood get to your head?If you want to understand that then understand how water flows up to mountains.Blood when it bursts in the veins of your nose and water rushing out of a vein in the earth.Almost everything that occurs in the human body can be found in the natural world.His interest in these analogies becomes very evident in the notebooks and sketchbooks.Scholars argue that these microcosm and macrocosm analogies are more than outright comparisons that belong to a pre scientific age, they lead him to compare the study of the body and Ptolemy's study of the earth.Consequently to use Ptolemy's method in the geography as the starting point for his own systematic study of anatomy.Therefore, anatomy and geography here become one in DA Vinci's mind.The forms of the earth and those of the human body have a parallel. "Thus in 15 entire figures you will have set before you the microcosm on the same plan as was before me adapted by Ptolemy in his cosmology, and so I shall afterwards divide them into limbs as he divided the whole world into processes.Then, I will speak of the function of each part in every direction putting before your eyes a description of the whole form and substance of man as regards his movements from place to place by means of these different parts.Thus if it please our great author I may demonstrate the nature of men and their customs in a way I describe this figure."Therefore, within the human form and within the kind of intricate details of human anatomy he discovered a way of describing and recording, not only the geographical construction of the natural world, but of Divinity itself.And when you look more closely at the system he devised to study the body, the more carefully you look at his drawings of the human form the more clearly you begin to recognize how strikingly stunningly original it is.

Earlier authors had relied exclusively on verbal descriptions of the human body.The human body had been a verbal entity but he emphasis visual description and some of the illustrations he has to bring visual dimensions to the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle the descriptions put forward by these men he presents in visual terms in these kind of body scapes.In the course of 20 years, roughly from 1489 to the end of his life, he dissected about 19 corpses and became very much obsessed with dissection.He drew these parts of bodies in minute detail every part of the human anatomy, he would draw each piece separately, together and at different angles.He laid out bodies in his drawings to mime classical poses in painting.He is referencing the history of art with the poses and the visual representation of the human subject.It is presented to us that deeply challenge these values of human nature, of life and death of living form and the cadaver it really raises some profound questions.The problem is in order to get to those questions, in order to explore some of the deeper philosophical implications of his work you have to get past the gross factor and the moral and ethical questions that his work raises.He is an artist that works very consciously with the sense of the ethical lines that he is crossing; he is not an artist that wants to make you comfortable.He sees that blood gets in the way of his observations, so he advises that you make a model of the body part and then you draw it.Model making and scientific art go hand in hand for him.You have to reconstruct reality before you can represent it.Therefore, before you can draw what is real you have to make it yourself.One of the most striking features of the notebooks is the manner in which he presents his work to us.There are no criticisms of the shortcomings that he has discovered in earlier authors, he does not boast about his own accomplishments, his writing style is pedagogical, and he is writing a teaching manual with descriptions and advice.Therefore, if you want to draw a lung, here is how you should do it.What he is trying to do is to convey to a larger audience this method of presentation and by representing human form, he relies on diagrams, and his reliance apparently causes some serious problems for the printing presses of the day.It also caused real issues for publishers because of the graphic nature of the work.

This was very important for medicine.He shows us we can separate human emotions and passions from the human body in understanding human form, and what it means to be human.There is a purely clinical dimension and this other dimension of feelings and emotions, and they do not have to come together at all, this is radical.

Thus again, this inside outside, you see it everywhere in his work.Why are we fascinated with the painting of the Mona Lisa?Because of the question we always ask, what is going on inside?The study of the Mona Lisa, it seems to me has always been organized around precisely the question that drove DA Vinci in his research.All his sketches in this obsessive and fanatical devotion to drawing every part of the body in relationship to every other part of the body at multiple levels and multiple perspectives and in motion, outside inside.There is the outside, what is going on inside, isn't that why we are obsessed with this?This painting just demands that we try to find out what is going on underneath.The truth is underneath, behind her smile, something she is keeping from us.Yet she is revealing just enough of it to make us have to find out what is going on inside of her.It is that relationship once again between the inside and the outside.

I read this book for a graduate class in the Humanities.Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, art, and science.

... Read more

Product Description
How did Leonardo da Vinci become interested in flight? What are some of his most famous paintings? Do his scientific ideas measure up to what we know today? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Magic Tree House Research Guide: Leonardo da Vinci, Jack and Annie’s guide to the mad genius himself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

AWESOME BOOK!!!!
What a delightful experience you get with the Magic Tree House Books.
Go on a magic adventure with your kids and there imaginations.
Hands down winning by an easy victory for our Family!!!!!!!

Excellent book.
This is an excellent book about the life of Leonardo da Vinci.It gave information about his early years that was unknown to most people and it was an up lifting book.

Can be a stand-alone guide
//Leonardo da Vinci// is the non-fiction companion guide to //Monday with a Mad Genius//--an adventure by Jack and Annie involving Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest Renaissance men. This guide contains the facts behind the events in the //Monday with a Mad Genius//, including the explanation of why Leonardo freed birds from their cages, what really happened with the fresco in Palazzo Vecchio, and why his writings are inverted.

As a guide, this volume is very useful to a learner who is just starting to learn about things by himself. The information is well-organized (the table of contents can always help get one back on track, and the index is a wonderful memory jogger), the language is easy to understand and the illustrations and pictures do an effective job of making the text come alive. If the reader wants more, the guide is also very good in suggesting other things to do, or other books to read to get more information.

Our son has now taught us about da Vinci and Italy
These companion books are very well written.This one was his favorite, I think because it has a more personal and biographical side to it.They don't create the same excitement level as the fiction stories but the history lessons are encompassing enough that our son has been able to teach us a few things about Italy, da Vinci, and life in his time.Now our son wants to visit Venice to see where he lived, this raising of curiosity is enough for me to recommend the book.He also read through cover to cover, which can be tough for six year olds when it comes to non-fiction (fiction tends to flow better, so he always reads those straight through).The author has really hit on a winning formula for making book-learning fun for younger children. ... Read more

Product Description
The award-winning and bestselling collection of the exquisite, annotated notebooks of Leonardo now in paperback. Culled from more than 7,000 pages of sketches and writings found in various rare books, papers, and other resources throughout the world, Leonardo's Notebooks presents, for the first time, an exhaustive collection of the insights and brilliance of perhaps the finest mind the world has ever known.

H. Anna Suh selected the most fascinating of these studies, penned in the mid-15th century, and compiled them into one monumental volume that showcases Leonardo's observations and clearly illustrates them with more than 1,000 of his original sketches and exquisite line drawings. These elegant studies are of myriad topics, such as the nature of water, light and shade, perspective, philosophy, botany, astronomy, the proportions of the human figure, and many other subjects. The artwork has been carefully arranged with the text to augment and illuminate Leonardo's writings. In addition, his handwritten notes and fascinating marginalia are deciphered and translated.
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Customer Reviews (23)

davini notebooks
definitly the best book you can find without having to pay 60 dollars for the full out notebooks, it tells you what he says in sidenotes on the page but sometimes can be hard to distinguish which note it is, sometimes the note is on a totally different page, still worth the money though

A great book
I've been enjoying this great book.It has wonderful drawings by Leondardo DaVinci. These I will use as a good way to "copy the masters".It's alway good to practice drawing and there are wonderful drawings throughout the book to copy.It is well written and explains a little history behind the man.Then the rest of the book is filled with his actual writings and traslated for all to read.This would be a great book for someone wanting to improve their drawing skills.

Insightful and Inspiring! A worthy tribute to Da Vinci by Anna Suh!
I purchased this book to further explore Da Vinci's concepts of beauty and aesthetics, particularly on beauty of the human face.As a facial plastic and cosmetic surgeon, I'm constantly seeking to learn more about our concepts facial beauty across various cultures.Da Vinci's notes on the ideal facial proportions was enlightening.After reading this chapter, it's no secret why he was a master of his crafts as a painter and sculptor.He was able to recreate beauty observed in nature because he understand how divine proportions fit together.
The reproductions of his original of his original notes in sepia tone was quite good and made reading this book very enjoyable.Definitely a soon-to-be classic for coffee tables and my cosmetic surgery reception room.

[...]

Best book on Leonardo Da Vinci
This book is full of illustrations.There are pictures of Leonardos notebooks.You get to see exactly how he drew everything.The author also give great insight to much of Da Vincis life and work.

The Amazing Leonardo
Everyone - every household, evey school room, every library should have Leonardo's Notebooks.He is among the world's most profound thinkers - way ahead of his time.As an artist - peerless -as a designer and a scientist awesome - the list goes on and one.There is somehting for absolutely everyone. ... Read more

Product Description
This captivating book provides the reader with a unique insight into the life and work of one of history's most intriguing figures. All of Leonardo Da Vinci's work is presented in this compact volume - from his paintings and frescos, to detailed reproductions of his remarkable encrypted notebooks. As well as featuring each individual artwork, sections of each are shown in isolation to reveal incredible details - for example, the different levels of perspective between the background sections of the "Mona Lisa", and the disembodied hand in "The Last Supper". 640 pages of colour artworks and photographs of Da Vinci's original notebooks, accompanied by fascinating biographical and historical details are here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not What I Expected
Perhaps I missed a portion of the description, but I expected this to be a nicer, LARGER, hardcover book.It's only about 5" square.The info is okay, but it was not what I expected.

A Nice, Pocket-sized Reference
Be aware this this is a small book, and you will not be able to view the paintings in very great detail. However, this is a good book to have when referring to S. da Vinci's art on the go and you don't want to lug around a huge book and it's also nice to have when pressed for space. As it says, it's a complete catalog of S. da Vinci's work and the pictures are quite beautiful, even at such a minute size.
This is a good book for art-aficionados, art-students, those that want to be prepared when going to museums to acclimate themselves with the works, and anything and everything in-between. As previously mentioned, it's a nice book to have when you're on-the-go.

Fantastic Book!
This book is absolutely fantastic!And its "mini" size makes it perfect!It's very detailed with many color pictures. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the second Volume from Leonardo Da Vinci.One of the greatest inventors and thinkers of all time.Learn the ideas and thoughts that are over 500 years old ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Da Vinci Notebooks are Useless on Kindle
Very disappointing. No sketches or drawing. Very confusing to read. This is not worth downloading.

No drawings makes this book useless
The Da Vinci notebooks are one of the most amazing works of literature out there. The sketches alone are amazing. Unfortunately, this e-book lacks the drawings, so it's reduced to a series of footnotes and comments about drawings that are not there, making this utterly useless. ... Read more

Product Description
This seminal book on the paintings of the great Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, first published by Abrams in 2000, has now been reissued in a compact, portable paperback format. As in the earlier volume, fresh photography and advanced printing techniques allow these precious masterworks to be reproduced with unparalleled accuracy and clarity, and every one of Leonardo's paintings is included, along with a text by one of the world's leading experts on the artist.

Such beloved paintings as the Mona Lisa, The Madonna of the Rocks, and The Annunciation are all showcased in this magisterial book, and the restored Last Supper is seen in all its richness of detail and tone. Scholar Pietro Marani explores Leonardo's fertile and original intellect and his astounding capacity for imbuing the human figure with emotion, sublime beauty, and grace. Preparatory drawings and studies are accompanied by enlarged details that reveal the painter's extraordinary sense of light and shadow, color and atmosphere-the fugitive, intangible quality we call "Leonardesque." Here is a book that does justice to the magnificent accomplishments of this great artist.Amazon.com Review
In this magnificent book, Pietro Marani, the director of the project to restore Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, presents all the artist's known paintings. The history and significance of each are analyzed at length: we read, for example, that "from a very early date, Mona Lisa was considered among Leonardo's most extraordinary accomplishments, one that made every other artist 'tremble and lose heart.'" Context is provided by a wealth of related paintings and sketches. The presentation is extravagant: double foldouts show frescoes in their entirety, and small areas are hugely expanded to give access to a world of sensuous detail. The intimacy of these extreme details--a tiny blue landscape glimpsed through a window, or the warm flesh of a baby's foot resting on its mother's arm--is unexpected, and one of the book's many successes.

Marani combines connoisseurship with the technological tools of art history, such as x-ray exploration of revisions in a painting's underdrawings. He has spent his life studying Leonardo's paintings firsthand, so closely that he can point to where the artist lightly blurred layers of paint with his fingertips to suggest the soft skin around the eyes of his portraits of women. A chapter is devoted to Marani's belief that Leonardo was profoundly influenced by ancient artworks rather than being exclusively the "modern genius" described by Romantic critics. The research is fully footnoted, with appendices including checklists of paintings and lost paintings and a collection of all known primary documents referring directly to Leonardo's life. From its enigmatic cover (the lips of the artist's exquisite portrait of Ginevra de' Benci) to its extensive bibliography, Leonardo da Vinci comes the closest this reviewer has seen to being the ultimate art book. --John Stevenson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent Condition
Excellent Condition for a used book.My family and I are enjoying it emensely.

Check the Paperback Size!
No matter how other may rave about this book, you must beware the paperback size.It is so much reduced from the hardcover that the print is difficult to read.With my reading glasses it is possible, but without them, it is all a blurr.I would definitely recommend the purchase of the larger hardcover version.

beauty to impress on the marrow of your soul
I bought this book pretty much as an impulse buy. I was very glad I did! I love Leonardo's paintings, I've had the pleasure of viewing some in the Louvre. I think it is such an amazing gift to be able to reproduce observation, providing insight into an individuals sense of consideration and emphasis. These last two are a requisite for style, along with skill in execution, which almost like text must convey clarity with the gradual perfecting in time, we have something most profound. I often find myself contemplating the pictures in this book, and being a scientist more than an artist, I was curious as to how it affected me so. Our sense of achievement is in part appreciated on the point that we can follow a path to the point of completion with the appreciation of the process rather than the end point attained. Now to understand and appreciate anothers achievement would require a sound and deep empathy of anothers 'travelled path', with Leonardo and others I just cannot empathise and understand how one can attain to something so majestic and magnificent I'm literally in awe, hence the belief that it is something beyond the sum of its parts (its make-up) - a gift. This book presents the wonderful works of this man and what is conveyed in the art. It is a little understanding of the personality and character of a unique time and individual. A great book!

Nearly perfect in every way
I don't know how daVinci did it. His artwork is so fantastic and its all so well presented in this rather impressive tome. He was such an amazing man and this book beautifully shows every tiny facet of his array of experiences and talents.

Leonardo - my hero. This book - my bible.
My dear fellow artists, You, like myself, have been blessed (cursed (?)) with an ability to draw and to dream, in the quest for beauty. This is it! As artists, nobody can outdo Leonardo. On Leonardo, this one is the best, the most complete. Read as many books on Leonardo as you wish, but make sure to own this one! ... Read more

Product Description
The Anatomical, Physiological and Embryological Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
With more than 1200 reproductions of drawings by the master's own hand, this book is the definitive and most complete collection of Leonardo's anatomical drawings currently in print.Here Leonardo's notebooks have been arranged according to the systems of the body in order to indicate the full extent of his anatomical work.This book will captivate curious laymen, medical professionals, and art and history enthusiasts alike.Also included are:
• Translations of Leonardo's anatomical notes which were written in his cryptic reverse handwriting. These translations provide an unusual glimpse into Leonardo's creativity and genius.
•Extensive commentary from the editors.
•A thorough background of Leonardo's life that reintroduces him to the world not just as a master artist, but as a brilliant scientist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

the man is a genius!!
This book is so good I got a copy for my doctor as well!!

he loves it!!

Paul ... Read more