Leonardo

Fülszöveg

LEONARDO Painter, architect, engineer, draftsman, botanist, Leonardo da Vinci was the archetypal Renaissance man. Born in illegitimate obscurity near Florence, he grew up to paint the Mona Lisa, the world's most famous work of art. As a pupil in Florence of the sculptor and painter Verrocchio, through the years as engineer to the Sforzas in Milán, to his final days in the service of the King of Francé, Leonardo pursued these many interests, not in isolation but in the humanist tradition, as diverse expressions of a single system of learning. As no artist before him he understood the achievements of Antiquity and applied the fruits of his studies to all areas of his activity. His scientific understanding was particularly advanced. He designed a tank, a submarine, even a flying machine - and all in the fifteenth century. In his painting he mastered the newly discovered science of perspective and pioneered the use of 'sfumato' - a smoky modeling which rendered forms much more naturally... Tovább

Fülszöveg

LEONARDO Painter, architect, engineer, draftsman, botanist, Leonardo da Vinci was the archetypal Renaissance man. Born in illegitimate obscurity near Florence, he grew up to paint the Mona Lisa, the world's most famous work of art. As a pupil in Florence of the sculptor and painter Verrocchio, through the years as engineer to the Sforzas in Milán, to his final days in the service of the King of Francé, Leonardo pursued these many interests, not in isolation but in the humanist tradition, as diverse expressions of a single system of learning. As no artist before him he understood the achievements of Antiquity and applied the fruits of his studies to all areas of his activity. His scientific understanding was particularly advanced. He designed a tank, a submarine, even a flying machine - and all in the fifteenth century. In his painting he mastered the newly discovered science of perspective and pioneered the use of 'sfumato' - a smoky modeling which rendered forms much more naturally than his predecessors had. He combined these techniques to create works such as the Last Supper and the Madonna of the Rocks which are spatially convincing and compositionally satisfying, an approach which has influenced all figurative artists from his contemporaries Michelangelo and Raphael up to the present day. In this lavishly illustrated monograph, the authors assess Leonardo's achievements, clarifying the sometimes bewildering complexity of his thinking. 140 large-scale full-color plates are described in detail to illustrate all his paintings and many of his colored chalk drawings of scientific inventions, the humán body, landscape, flóra and fauna. Leonardo is a summary that is both beautiful and informative and will give its readers pleasure for many years to come.
Maria Costantino was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied History of Art, Design and Film at Sheffield City Polytechnic, Faculty of Art. She was Film Studies Co-ordinator for Michigan State University, and has lectured at Heatherly School of Art, Chelsea, Bamfield College, Luton, and the American College, London. Her previous publications include Art Nouveau (1989) and Klimt (1990). Maria Costantino now lives in London, England. Aileen Reid was born in Belfast and brought up in Scotland and Yorkshire. After graduating with a degree in the History of Art from Edinburgh University she worked as an editor on the Macmillan Dictionary of Art, and has subsequently worked as a project editor for a small publisher. She has contributed articles and reviews to a number of publications including Architectural History and the Burlington Magaziné, and her book on Aubrey Beardsley will appear in 1991. Aileen Reid now lives in south London. front cover: The Madonna of the Yarmoinder, c. 1501 (In the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, KT, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire) back cover: Madonna and Child with St Anne and a Lamb (detail), c. 1508 (Musée du Louvre, Paris/Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux) Vissza