Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius of the Renaissance--His Life in Paintings
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius of the Renaissance--His Life in Paintings Details
Language Notes Text: English (translation) Original Language: Italian Read more
Reviews
I felt this book was tremendous for not only finding out what Leonardo's famous paintings are but also to compare his paintings to the works of many others.This book is full of paintings and sculpture.You're not going to get an in depth discussion of the history and theories behind each painting but I don't think that's the intent of a book like this.There's a lot of good information at the end also about famous artists of the Renaissance.Leonardo's painting talents were not only in his technique but also in the ideas and arrangements for the paintings. For example in 'The Last Supper' the figures are arranged in a unique way and 'The Virgin of the Rocks' introduced completely new ideas.Many other painters benefitted and used some of these ideas.Leonardo had a tremendous talent for painting the human face and accurately capturing the affects of light and shadow in paintings.He viewed painting as a science really which I think was more or less one of his unique characteristics.This book also mentions some of Leonardo's criticisms of others. Leonardo was never one to hesitate to criticize other people. He made a famous statement one time that many people are nothing more than consumers of food and producers of waste.