Product Description
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) stands as a supreme iconin the history of Western civilization. With much of his work lost orunfinished, the key to his legacy is without doubt to be found in theenormous body of his extant drawings and accompanying manuscriptnotes. Famous for their beauty and technical virtuosity, Leonardo’sdrawings were avidly sought by collectors even during hislifetime. This handsome book offers a unified and fascinating portraitof Leonardo as a draftsman, integrating his diverse roles as anartist, scientist, inventor, theorist, and teacher. A chronologicalframework is also provided in order to shed light on his extraordinarylife and career. The essays and entries—written by the world’sleading Leonardo scholars—survey the wide variety of drawing typesthat Leonardo used and also examine a small group of works by artistscritical to his artistic development in Florence and to hismultifaceted activity in Milan.Amazon.com Review
Artist, theorist, scientist, and inventor--these words cannot capture thegenius that is Leonardo DaVinci. However, curator and editor Carmen C.Bambach brings us a little closer to unlocking his mystery in LeonardoDaVinci: Mater Draftsman. The book comprises a collection of 11 essays byworld-renowned Leonardo connoisseurs, along with 515 exquisite illustrations,to create a perfect balance between scholarship and aesthetics. Serving asthe catalogue for the exhibition of the same name at New York's MetropolitanMuseum of Art, the book focuses on Leonardo's drawings: his studies for someof his unfinished, lost, or unrealized paintings and projects, stunninganatomical and engineering studies, 8 pages from the Codex Leicester(Leonardo's draft for a treatise on the dynamics of water), and his studiesof grotesque physiognomies, which taken together, reveal the master'snotion that beauty and ugliness are reciprocally enhanced by theirjuxtaposition.The result also sheds light onhis extraordinary contribution as a draftsman "to the design process ofnarrative composition."

Leonardo has left us a mere handful of mostly unfinished--albeit magnificent--paintings. Yet, as Bambach explains, the quantity of his extant drawings(about 4,000 or more) is about 4 times that of the most prolific16th-century draftsman. To be sure, it is through these drawings, alongwith the eloquent commentary, that Leonardo's infinite and dynamic creativepower can best be glimpsed. From the whimsical to the sublime, from thescientific to the mechanical, these drawings reveal Leonardo's dependence onobservation and nature, as well as his tireless use of drawing as a means to explore and express his ever-probing mind. Thecatalogue takes us on a chronological journey,revealing the vast influence of Leonardo's teacher Andrea Verrocchio, andsubsequently shows us Leonardo's influence on his students and beyond. The beauty, power, and scope of this book areevidence that there is no end to pondering his remarkable and enigmatic genius. --Silvana Tropea ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Masterpiece Publication
World famous for their sublime beauty and technical virtuosity, Leonardo's drawings were avidly sought by collectors even during his lifetime. In this day of being flooded with inferior music and art in the mass media it is without question that Leonardo da Vinci remains an icon of Italian art history and a pillar of Western civilization.

So much of his work has been sadly lost or is in an unfinished state, one key to his legacy is found in the body of his extant drawings and accompanying manuscript notes which have survived.

Yale University Press has once again released a masterpiece publication published in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to compliment the first comprehensive international loan exhibition of Leonardo's drawings in the United States. This book is the catalogue for the show to be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from January 22 to March 30, 2003 and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, from April 28 to July 7, 2003.

This handsome volume offers a unified and fascinating portrait of Leonardo as a draftsman, integrating his diverse roles as an artist, scientist, inventor, theorist, and teacher. A chronological framework is also provided in order to shed light on his extraordinary life and career.

The essays and entries are brilliantly written by the world's leading Leonardo scholars. They survey the wide variety of drawing types that Leonardo used, and also examine a small group of works by artists critical to his artistic development in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan.

This is an invaluable source of information on Leonardo. The Codex Leicester is examined as are the much copied studies of grotesques physiognomies. There is a discussion of Leonardo's drawings in Milan and their influence on the graphic work of Milanese artists providing useful clues to his enormous influence on those artists as well as the best artists of today. Leonardo's graphic oeuvre is examined as is his early drapery studies.

An impressive catalogue if that is what one could call this masterwork of publication it is a must for Italian art scholars and art connoisseurs period. This is no lightweight work at 512 pp. 50 b/w + 200 colorplates with detailed descriptions of 138 individual works surveying the wide variety of types within his portfolio of work. This is destined to be a highly sought after volume.

Leonardo DaVinci-Master Draftsman by Bambach
This book is written for art enthusiasts. The potential
readership includes historians, artists, museum curators
and students of world culture, art and history. The work
is perfect for a term or class project.

It has many famous
drawings and paintings by DaVinci. For instance, the spectacular
"Adoration of the Magi" appears in full color. There are
numerous apprenticeship drawings and renditions on the anatomy
of humans and animals. For instance, there is a very detailed
rendition of a horse leg. This work would make a wonderful
gift for a teenager or art buff. The full-color drawings alone are worth several dollars
apiece. The book is a tremendous value .

The Definitive Tome on da Vinci as genius
LEONARDO DA VINCI: MASTER DRAFTSMAN is a magnificent addition to the library about this extraordinary Renaissance genius.Published as a 'catalogue' for the exhibition that just left the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the weighty book is successful on all levels.The Curator and driving force fo the exhibition, Carmen C. Bambach, has firmly established her credentials in this vast survey of da Vinci's drawings of human anatomy, both precise observations (eg 'Abdomen and Left Leg of a Nude Man Standing in Profile page 556) and artistic distortions ( the grotesque faces on pages 684 - 693), of his 'inventions' as a scientist, of simple observations ('A Copse of Trees'on page 469 for instance), of the technical aspects of drawing and painting (brilliantly executed examples of draping the figure as on pages 289 and 563), and sketches for numerous painting proposals.The first 225 pages of this elegant book are devoted to various essays about da Vinci, all written by erudite scholars who are immensely readable.The last half of the book is an in-depth presentation of the catalogue of the show, serenely annotated by Carmen Bambach.There are ample sections of documentation and easy references to the bibiliography and timeline for da Vinci's life.The drawings and paintings are beautifuly reproduced on first quality paper and the book, (though heavy as a lap book!), is artistically designed and produced.This magnificent volume will be the gold standard for da Vinci's drawings and should be part of every library on the Renaissance and on art history.Highly Recommended. ... 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 remarkable record of the workings of what many consider to be the greatest human mind thathistory has ever witnessed. The complete notebooks have been translated and edited by the most distinguished Da Vinci scholar of his generation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

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.

Text Only
Just be warned that this volume contains the text of the notebooks, none of the drawings.Leonardo's thoughts on 50 topics are gathered together under topical headings from his many manuscripts.Thus, this work is arranged, rendered into English and introduced by Edward MacCurdy.As such, it is a lovely book with large, readable type.Well-bound in red boards with gold lettering on the spine.It is a book to be dipped into from time-to-time rather than one you might read from cover-to-cover.

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci
This definitive translation of Leonardo's notebooks brings together into one volume the famous reflections and speculations of the greatest mind of the Renaissance. It is a result of a lifetime of study and research by the outstanding authority on the life and works of the great Florentine.
Because of the unique and diverse character of Leonardo's achievements, the reissue of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci is an event of enduring importance in the fields of art, literature, science and technology. And the general reader can once again glimpse the inner workings of the mind of the towering figure of the renaissance, "perhaps the most richly gifted by nature among all the sons of men."

... Read more

Product Description
This masterly account of Leonardo da Vinci and his vision of the world has long been recognized as the classic treatment of the Renaissance giant, offering unparalleled insight into Leonardo's intellect and vision at every stage of his artistic career.
Martin Kemp, one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo, takes us on a mesmerizing journey through the whole span of the great man's life, painting a fully integrated picture of his artistic, scientific, and technological achievements. Kemp shows how Leonardo's early training in Florence provided a crucial foundation in the "science of art," particularly perspective and anatomy, while his period in the service of the Sforzas of Milan enlarged his outlook to embrace a wide range of natural sciences and mathematics, as he searched for scientific rules governing both man and the universe. It was these rules, Kemp argues, which provided the basis for his imaginative reconstruction of nature in masterworks such as the Last Supper, The Mona Lisa, and St. John, which reveal his increasingly complex vision of man in the context of nature. And towards the end of his life, Leonardo became fascinated with the mathematics underlying the "design of nature," behind which lay the ultimate force of the "prime mover," as manifested with supreme power in his Deluge drawings.
Covering every aspect of Leonardo's achievement, generously illustrated, and now including a new introductory chapter setting Leonardo's work in its historical context, this fully updated edition provides unparalleled insight into the mind of this central figure in western art.

"Sensitive and original descriptions of the master's paintings... combining the achievements of Kenneth Clark's classic on the artist with V. P. Zubov's unsurpassed account of the scientist in the context of his age."
--E. H. Gombritch, The Times Literary Supplement (on the first edition) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Exceptionally Readable and Knowledgable
Kemp's book is exceedingly different from many accounts of the life of Leonardo da Vinci.It does not try to explain his entire life or place him on secret missions for the Church, nor does it find hidden meanings in his paintings.Leonardo da Vinci is a straight-forward text, and coupled with Kemp's easy-to-read writing style, is quite enjoyable.At times, Kemp becomes carried away with descriptions of Leonardo's work, but although it becomes tedious at times, this is done for a reason: he is following in the writing style of Leonardo himself.Kemp's narrative alludes to much, and while this works well in fiction, scholarly texts' facts should be clear when the point being made elevates the subject above others.This does not detract from the benefit all readers of this book would obtain from reading it, however, as it is insightful and thought-provoking.The sketches, illustrations, and paintings shown along with the corresponding text are not mentioned only once as just an example, but integrated extremely well into Kemp's vision of Leonardo and provides evidence for his thesis that the whole of his accomplishments could produce a clear understanding of Leonardo's "intellectual foundations."

... Read more

Product Description
The life and work of the great Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) have proved endlessly fascinating for generations. In Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin Nuland completes his twenty-year quest to understand an unlettered man who was a painter, architect, engineer, philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. What was it that propelled Leonardo’s insatiable curiosity? Nuland finds clues in his subject’s art, relationships, and scientific studies—as well as in a vast quantity of notes that became widely known in the twentieth century. Scholarly and passionate, Nuland’s Leonardo da Vinci takes us deep into the first truly modern, empirical mind, one that was centuries ahead of its time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Boring
No passion about the subject. Talked about Leonardo being a homosexual for pages upon pages bringing in Freud. Freud? I thought he was proven to be the wierdo not everyone else. I'm on the last chapter, it was painful reading.I was excited to read about this man but Nuland apparently has a nack of taking the joy out of a subject. It just never got any easier to read.

Of Most Interest to Doctors and Biologists
Leonardo was the prototypical "Renaissance Man," a fact that renders him remarkably difficult for any one biographer to encapsulate fully. Add to that the page limitations imposed upon writers of the Penguin Lives (the typical Life is roughly 165 pages long), and you have an impossible task, no matter how competent the author.

Sherwin Nuland is that rarest of all creatures, an articulate doctor (surgeon), who has written several popular books about his craft, including the very popular How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter. So he was the ideal choice to write about Leonardo's anatomical studies, which he does well.

What he omits is any discussion of Leonardo's other accomplishments in art, mechanics, aeronautics,... But what modern writer could have written knowledgeably about those wide-ranging fields? Perhaps Isaac Asimov, but he died in 1992.

To Dr. Nuland's credit, he doesn't try, producing instead a fine book on those topics he does understand. Still, he doesn't capture the man.

For those who are interested, there is an excellent film, The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci, produced for Italian television in 1971,that provides a superb overview of Leonardo's life. A labor of love by the Italians, it is the definitive film on the subject.

Laborious read, focusing mainly on da Vinic's anatomical studies
Armed with a limited understanding of da Vinci's paintings, scientific research and anatomical studies, I picked up this book hoping to gather a better understanding of Leonardo's life and work.Unfortunately, I found this book to be a laborious read, focusing mainly on da Vinic's anatomical studies.

I wouldn't say this book is horrible, or that one shouldn't read it.Rather, it's just not the book for you if you desire a more traditional biography.Yet, I'm not certain a traditional biography could exist concerning da Vinci.Large gaps exist in our understanding of him, and much of what we do know is speculative - except where his anatomical work is considered, and which this book mainly covers.

Too Brief in Parts.Yet Some Parts Brilliant.
There can be little doubt that Leonardo da Vinci was a man of great intellect and skill.His impact upon society, however, has not been great.His inventions were never brought to fruition and his work in anatomy, while treasured today as being complex and far sighted, did little for the practice of medicine at the time of its publication.Yet, despite all this, it is a brave man who totally disregards Leonardo.

The author of this work on da Vinci, Sherwin B. Nuland, is a surgeon; an interesting choice for a biographer.Nuland brings a particular skill set to the work but not a complete skill set.The first portion of the book that deals in general with Leonardo's life is not strong.The reader is whisked through the years without ever feeling that he has gained any insights whatsoever.But, when Nuland turns to anatomy in the final chapters, the books takes a whole new turn.Clearly, the writer's knowledge shines and the reader sees in much greater depth the genius that was Leonardo.

At a time when there were no X rays, anesthesia or any real knowledge of the body's circulatory system, Leonardo's work was brilliant.Rather than describe the workings of the human body, Leonardo used drawings as his medium.Working with cadavers and having to work at great haste, Leonardo was a man ahead of his time.Nuland allows the reader to truly imagine the skill of the man.

Overall, Nuland's book is a work in two parts.The first, which is general biography, has only slight merit.His subsequent analysis of Leonardo's work in anatomy reads wonderfully.It is a great pity that the whole book could not have been of the same standard as the second part.

So, how much do you want to learn about anatomy
This is a small book (166 pages) and it's focus is small also.Nuland really wanted to write a book only about DaVinci's facination with the human body and his accomplishments in describing his findings (some of which weren't proven until the middle of the twentieth century).It's a book totally about hero worship.But, Nuland does tell you this on the first page, you just have to realize it.

This is an eight chapter book, the first six read like cliff notes on DaVinci's life. The last two are totally turned over to a description of some of the contents of his notebooks, their history (as to who had them, and now has them) and of the number that have been lost or butchered over the last five hundred years.

There is one chapter almost completely turned over to Freud's psycho-sexual analysis of DaVinci and his paintings, and another to the history and speculation about and of the Mona Lisa.

Unless your a real Nuland fan, or a fan of anatomical historiography, you can skip this book, and read the biography by Charles Nichols. ... Read more

Product Description
Here are clear reproductions of over 1200 anatomical drawings by one of humanity’s greatest geniuses—still considered, nearly five centuries later, the finest ever rendered. Admired by artists and scientists alike. 215 plates.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not for me
If you are thinking that buying this book would help you learning a secret of leonardo's drawing, this is not that book you are looking for .You would learn better with bridgeman's anatomy book or somebody else.This book is pure anatomy and science.

If you like reading texts and texts, then this is probably for you, but not me.

Leonardo's Masterpiece
Leonardo Da Vinci's anatomical drawings, due to his extreme curiosity, became one of his most profound works to date. Published by Dover from the original text 1952. The book is set up in 2 columns and broken up intoheaders of different anatomical structures; either of bones, muscles,ventricles of the heart or brains. The chapters are broken into systems:nervous, cardiovascular, myological, osteological, respitory, alimentaryand others. Within the text there are italicized words. These are the wordswritten on the drawing itself, in Leonardo's usual backward writing style.Some of you might be curious, beyond the drawings themselves to read whatLeonardo thought at the time. And from there is the authors commentary. Forthose interested in anatomy, drawing, painting or anything in the artfield, this book is highly reccoemended, for it has limitless referencevalue. I continually look at it for my drawings. One will also notice thatmany of the "models" are of the same body or person. This isbecause Leonardo asked a friend on his deathbed if he could cut him up,dissect him and then draw him. The friend, of course, consented to this,and so we have Leonardo's masterpiece. Highly reccomended! Alsoreccomended is his Notebooks, also printed by Dover. ... Read more

Product Description
Explores the lives and works of the world's greatest artists. This book helps readers learn about the people, places and events that had notable influences on their careers. ... Read more

Product Description
Clark's study of Leonardo is generally considered the clearest introduction available to the work of the controversial genius. This edition contains 128 plates, integrated into the text; a revised list of dates; an updated bibliography; and a new introduction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

a poetic and literally account about Leonardo
It was a pleasant surprise to me reading that book. I was really impressed byKenneth Clark's style.It is a kind of poetic,I think.He also tries to analyse the symbolic language of the artist, to penetrate to Leonard's mind. Although the logic of the passage is not very clear,
Clark is trying to transfer the intellectual context of each picture.
In fact, he lacked a systematic knowledge of the manuscripts, but he conveys a penetraion that is at heart founded upon his intuitions of the paintings and drawings. Clark has tried to realise Leonardo's mind behind the paintings and writings. I am fond of the literary description he uses in a a way we are relatively unfamiliar, an old way.
When I started to read the book I was looking forward to reachthe "Last Supper". Clark exactlly described my own feelings when I saw the picture. 'It is a work of nature than a work of man.Before such a picture the difficulty is not to analyse our feelings as to have any feelings at all." He has tried to imagine and understand Leonardo's feelings and thoughts when he was painting the "Last Supper" and exactly that he tried to transmit to us, in such a sweet and poetic way. I could never had enough of this part.
I was also impressed from the way he describes the" Virgin of the rocks". After an elaborated description of the angel and the infant Saint John and the virgin as well he wonders if the whole picture has a deeper meaning. Besides, he also juxtaposes the two "Virgins of the rocks".
There are a few parts of Leonardo's drawings for the horses although it took him such a long time to draw them. He liked to draw horses very much. In fact, there aren't much about his drawings or his notes.
I didn't like the fact that pictures were not coloured. How can one imagine the coloures Leonardo used and the true tuxture of the painting?
It is a great disadvantage not having coloured plates.
In conclusion, I would liKe to cite the following: To Leonardo a landscape like a human being, was a part of a vast machine, to be understood part by part if possible, in the whole. Rocks were not simply decorative silhouettes. They were part of the earth's bones with anatomy of their own caused by some remote seismic upheaval. Clouds were not random curls of the brush, drawn by some celestial artist, but were the congregation of tiny drops formed from the evaporation of the sea andsoon would pour back their rain into the rivers.(discussion of the 'Mona Lisa").

Very disappointing plates
This really wonderful book by Clark, with its good introduction by Martin Kemp, was marred by the very bad quality of the plates. They're all black and white and every one is washed out (with the exception of the color cover), perhaps because the printing plates are old and worn out. Shame on Penguin for releasing such a poor quality product, especially in these days of quality reproduction. If you can be content with just the extremely good text (I was not), no problem, but be warned. The copy I received 3/11/09 was a 1993 reprint of the 1989 edition.

Refreshing
I uedd this text foran Art History classand it was not only useful and insightful, but also intriguing and well-organized. After having so many dry texts that are all fact, no fun, this was a refreshing change. It still had all the fact of a text book, but presented in a much more entertining and useful manner. I just wish all Art History texts were as easy to read while still being as informative

An excellent introduction to Leonardo
This work provides a good introduction to the fascinating subject of Leonardo and his creative genius. Clark writes with elegance and insight about the whole span of Leonardo's career. He focuses on the drawings and provides the reader with an understanding of Leonardo's technical and artistic accomplishment. Clark is also reserved in his claims of understanding the mystery of Leonardo's personality and human relation.
Like Leonardo in his inventions Clark does not supply the full and final detail that gives the complete picture. His work is a fascinating introduction which however gives a basic understanding of the subject.

The eternal genius
Kenneth Clark gives an unpropogating look at Da Vinci. All too often Leonardo's name has been attached to support a variety of causes of this or that nature. Being, seemingly, irreligious and unphilosophic while being the quintessential Renassaince Man. His name is often used as a mascot to justify the ideals of this or that group of whatever. He was clearly an animal rights lover, possibly a closet Franciscan, in all probability a homosexual (although not much of an activist). Leonardo was into his thoughts and had little patience for something that was already complete in his mind. He left scores of unfinished works, and minons of angry patrons - contrary to Bornstin's book that Leonardo was in constant search of patrons - Clark says he had many unhappy patrons. Leonardo was an animal lover who hated violence (although he designed armaments of various sorts). His depth of religious devotion could be argued, but he was not irreverant, as some have claimed. Leonardo was rather Franciscan and had a fondness for animals and individuality. He was free and valued his own individualism. Other than Da Vinci's notebooks nothing much authentic comes down to us. Every other work of Leonardo has been severally retouched or destroyed, what there is left of Leonardo's work is highly speculative - what bit is in his hand ect. Clark gives a healthy, vibrant, nonproselytizing look at a genius - something anyone might find interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
This beautiful book is the first full-length study of Leonardo's beginnings as an artist. It discusses his years in Verrocchio's workshop and his subsequent work on his own, the development of his technique, and the relationship of his early paintings to each other and to their sources. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Identifies Leonardo's Involvement With Early Paintings
The title of this book should probably be 'Leonardo Da Vinci Origins Of An ARTISTIC Genius'. It was the title that intrigued me and made me want to read this book. Leonardo's education and maturation process in relation to painting is really not that unusual.

This book does demonstrate with a lot of precise details how Leonardo's involvement and association with paintings from his early period can be proven or disproven. In some cases advanced scientific techniques such as x-ray analysis are cited to disprove or clarify statements made by previous authors about Leonardo's supposed involvement in various paintings. This book would be very helpful if someone was, for example, writing a paper about Leonardo's early career as far as exactly what paintings he worked on.

However the mysterious aspect about Leonardo da Vinci is not his painting which he eventually grew tired of and he sometimes didn't even bother to finish his own paintings. The mysterious thing about Leonardo is how did he all of a sudden become (at least in his own mind) an engineer, architect, scientist, etc., when he was never trained in any of these things ? How did someone who was trained as a painter and artist make that transition ? That's where the mystery deepens about Leonardo da Vinci.

As far as the books I've read so far that mystery has never been fully explained other than he was self taught. His art was very important for this transition because it allowed him to record his basically limitless ideas at a time when photography didn't exist yet.

But a good follow on to this book would be called 'Leonardo Da Vinci Origins Of A RENAISSANCE Genius' or 'Scientific Genius' or something like that.

Whether some or most of Leonardo's scientific ideas were valid is I think open to debate. But he did have some of the characteristics required for true genius which are intense curiosity, being very observant, and having almost unlimited energy. And he was a good painter, that much can be stated positively. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Good for an interactive book
This book is good for anyone that like an interactive type of book. By this I mean you actually get to see the document and letters that Leonardo wrote. You see how his backwords hand writing kept everyone else from reading his manuscripts while he was alive. Also you see some of the drawings he made and how he used both sides of the paper instead of one side like many people once thought.

The Treasures of Leonardo da Vinci
I thoroughly enjoy this book, the inserts are great, text is well written and extremely informative.I received this book in a timely manner and in excellent shape.I would strongly recommend this book to anyone.
M. Day Hawk

Makes Leonardo live
This is a great hands on book.Being able to take out documents and feel that you have a connection with the time, place and people.Beautifully produced, great graphics and text.
It's a pick up and read bits book.Accessible to everyone.
I was thrilled when i received it, even if your not a Di Vinci fan its a beautiful book to own.

A book for Leo Lovers and the general public too!
After a long while, here comes a book that is actually exciting to go through page by page - and I mean that literally! Along with the highly informative text, the book offers a wonderfully collaborative balance of both scholarly and creative research - perhaps very much in the taste of Leonardo himself. This is a truly unique book for all us art lovers - who may or may not share a great fascination for the life and works of Leo. Landrus indeed offers an interesting and imaginative look into the life and passion of the great Renaissance Man!

An unsual, informed, and welcome approach to da man, da vinci
Amazon should have more pictures of this book, thanks to its unusual format.If you want to know more about Leonardo you've got to have a 'look' at this portfolio format, boxed, facsimile packed, well-written (IMO) book.I have a handful of titles about him, but few of them take this much of an interdisciplinary approach - so that it's as interesting to read as to look at.It seems to have the latest independent research (see info on the Annunciation, Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, Giant Crossbow) that you may not see elsewhere, and it recaps recent findings (see info on the Virgin of the Rocks, heart valve studies, and flying machine).In most places it's absolutely fresh (even the Mona Lisa info!), not a rehash of the usual Leonardo stuff.Just a couple oddities I've found:the tiny Franchino Gaffurius print on p. 19 is a negative print (not the positive that it's supposed to be), and the Last Supper perspective layout on p. 35 is only partially reproduced, missing the full diagram that might look like the author's diagram as reproduced in Martin Kemp's 'Leonardo da Vinci, The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man' (OUP 2006).Still, 'Treasures' is thorough, in-depth, very interesting, and concise, a rare treat. ... Read more

Product Description
"This work is an attractive and friendly resource for students... The strengths of this biography are its attractive illustrations, the time line of Da Vinci’s life across the bottom of each page, and the simple presentation of the facts of his life. Young readers will find the book visually appealing, and those searching for factual information on Da Vinci will find it helpful..." —VOYA ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrific Primer on Leonardo Da Vinci
Targeted at grade-schoolers, this book from National Geographic provides a beautifully illustrated overview of the life and works of the famous Renaissance Man. The book includes numerous photos and reprints of Da Vinci's most famous works, and well as reproductions of some of his designs.

While he's most famous for The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Da Vinci, in fact, only completed a few paintings during his lifetime, magnificent though they may be. Da Vinci painted, sculpted, created sets for plays, and designed numerous machines for war.

The book is well-written, and is designed and laid out beautifully. The amazing imagery used in the book makes for a great way to introduce Leonardo and the Renaissance. ... Read more

Product Description
Building on the success of The Da Vinci Code--a bestseller in 48 countries--this book brings inventions from the artist's original coded notebooks alive. There's more interest than ever in Leonardo Da Vinci, and here readers will find a rare glimpse into the innovator's brilliant mind, with:

-Gorgeous color artwork that breathes life into Leonardo's inventions--from flying and war machines to musical instruments

-Annotated diagrams that show exactly how each contraption would have worked

-A look at how the inventions would be used in modern life

With incredible detail and mechanical accuracy, Leonardo's Machines unlocks the mystery of the artist's notebooks in a way that's both fascinating and educational! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Wonderful book!
The book is an excellent for kids with interests in invention.
We like the book. We appreciate the seller for their quick delivery.

USR, NJ

VERY FASCINATING READING!
GET THIS BOOK. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. THERE IS SO MUCH TO READ ABOUT DAVINCI'S TALENTS AND INNOVATIONS AND SO MANY DRAWINGS THAT ARE JUST SO TANTILIZING TO CONSIDER. THIS IS ONE BOOK I WON'T PART WITH!

Leonardo's Machines
Excellent computer graphics illustrating Leonardo's work. -- As well as the story of the author, who goes through his quest to put together his masterpiece. - A few more intimate details of Leonardo's life would make to totally magical. Domenico Laurenze is more concerned with his researching the last books of Leonardo and how he found them. -- Seemed like a Indiana Jones adventure rather than an adoration of my personal god, Leonardo Di Vinci.-- But the 100s of reproductions of his Leonardo's original drawings made this book unforgetable.

Great book for budding engineers
Facinating book with gorgeous drawings.We bought it for our 8 year old son who has always loved inventing and drawing machines of his own creation and were so impressed with it that we bought a copy to donate to his school library too.

Great Book - Only a how-to if you are VERY experienced!
I bought this book because I have tickets to see the traveling exhibit, "The Da Vinci Experience", in a couple months.It is a gorgeous book.Each machine covered has copies of the Da Vinci original plans, plus the editor's illustrations breaking the machine into it's components, with the placements of said componenets.Each machine has explanations of how components and the full machine work (or are supposed to work).Also, each machine has a history of Leonardo's drawings, purpose, client or personal notebooks, etc.It's a great book and looks gorgeous. I wouldn't think it would be a how-to for a school project unless the kid/parent had a lot of mechanical experience beforehand.All drawings show "real" components that you'd need a full shop to put together.There are no measurements, per se, just comparative sizes shown in the drawings.In the case of Leonardo's original drawings, it looks like this was deliberate.For example, the book's Introduction tells of Leonardo's problems with Giorgio Tedesco, an assistant of a prominant Medici.He wanted Leonardo to build him wooden models of several inventions.Leonardo successfully argued that he could only give Tedesco the scaled drawings.Historians surmise that Leonardo suspected that Tedesco would take the models back to his country, and take them apart to make full-sized machines out of iron without Leonardo's help.Job security was no laughing matter in the 1500's!Love the book.Can't wait to see the working full-sized (except for the half-size helicopter)models made from the drawings in the exhibition. ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring engaging text and
numerous illustrations this book
brings Leonardo da Vinci to life
in a format that s both
entertaining and informative. This book explores da Vinci s unique artistic talents and at
the same time introduces Leonardo the mathematician,
urban planner, cartographer, poet, musician, astronomer, and
medical scientist. Readers will learn about the scientific
discoveries that inspired the young artist and the cultural
forces that nourished his creative spirit. This book features
high quality reproductions of his most famous works along
with notebook sketches of dissected bodies, flying
machines, and even robots. The artist s personal life is told
through fascinating anecdotes that look beyond the myth to
bring the man into clearer focus. Throughout, the author s
engaging tone allows readers to experience familiar
masterpieces with a fresh eye. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Beautifully illustrated throughout, this book exploresthe life and works of Leonardo da Vinci.Organized chronologically,we are taken step by step through time to learn more of the man andhis creations in relation to those of his time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Incredible find!
This book has to be one of THE best books I have purchased over the years of Da Vinci's work.
Not only does it show his work, but compares it to the artists that influenced him.
I love the quality of the photos and the close ups of the art is wonderful, showing great details, but THE BEST part is the section devoted to the Last Supper! It show not only the "Before" the restoration but the "After."
I was blown away at how much color and details were stripped for the "restoration". The Before shows how rich the colors were and for those who are fans of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, it really makes you wonder if that isn't a portrait of Mary.
It is really worth every penny.I am so glad I got this one. I will not be letting go of it any time soon! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Visually stimulating
Great fold out 3D type da Vinci contraptions. Visually stimulating with good write ups explaning devices.

Everyone loves this
I actually ended up buying more than one copy of this book for gifts (including one for myself!) Adults and kids alike are fascinated with all the informations and the pop-ups. It is a nicely made book.

fascinating
A fascinating book with very detailed imagery & pop-ups...a few even took it to a second level using pull tabs or string.Gave it as a gift and just had to have one for myself too!

Journal of Inventions
Bought this for my son for Christmas who is going to college for engineering. He absolutely loved it. The way the inventions pop up and can be moved is wonderful.

Punctual delivery, excellent condition...
Thank you for shipping the book so promptly. It arrived in the pristine shape that you had tagged it. ... Read more