Leonardo Da Vinci

By Maurice W. Brockwell

Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci notes that while there is much speculation regarding his life and personality, his view of the world was logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unorthodox for his time.
Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I of France.
Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: anboco
• Release date: Aug 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9783736411760

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Table of Contents

LEONARDO DA VINCI

By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL

Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour

HIS BIRTH

HIS EARLY TRAINING

HIS EARLY WORKS

FIRST VISIT TO MILAN

IN THE EAST

BACK IN MILAN

THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS

THE LAST SUPPER

THE COURT OF MILAN

LEONARDO LEAVES MILAN

MONA LISA

BATTLE OF ANGHIARI

AGAIN IN MILAN

IN ROME

IN FRANCE

HIS DEATH

HIS ART

HIS MIND

HIS MAXIMS

HIS SPELL

HIS DESCENDANTS

LEONARDO DA VINCI

By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL

Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour

Leonardo, wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, was a Man so happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so accomplished in the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so much esteemed by the Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly applauded by the Ages which have succeeded, and his Name and Memory still preserved with so much Veneration by the present Age—that, if anything could equal the Merit of the Man, it must be the Success he met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting alone, but in Philosophy, too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of the 'Pencil.'

This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work still holds good to-day.

HIS BIRTH

Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, was born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is about six miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci is still very inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the cart of a general carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of the main street of Vinci to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the great artist is pointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. Leonardo's traditional birthplace on the outskirts of the town