LEONARDO DA VINCI : Artist, Inventor and Scientist of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci has become the definition of the "Rennaissance man." His accomplishments in painting and sculpture, music and mathematics, and engineering and architecture have endured for centuries. The Renaissance was a watershed for European artisitc and scientific accomplishment and da Vinci led the way. He exemplified a new perspective, seeking to explore and control the forces of nature, and to extend the frontiers of human knowledge.

Gr 6 Up--To present the complexity of 15th-century Italy and the fecund imagination of the quintessential Renaissance man, this large book is designed so that each double-page spread deals with a single theme: Milan, brass casting, The Last Supper, hydrolics, etc. An illustration or reproduction dominates each spread and is accompanied by an easy-to-read, interpretive text. Paragraphs in italics offer chronological details of the subject's life. Other visuals with captions add further information. The full-color drawings are remarkably clear, often providing cut-away views of buildings, such as a Medici palazzo; a bronze-casting studio; or a set of working locks. Full-color reproductions of paintings are compared with versions of the same scenes by other artists and with Leonardo's sketches to illuminate meanings and symbolic gestures. Romei gives readers a sense of this especially active time in history, and the illustrators offer quantities of information about how many things worked. Though this is a visually opulent volume, readers must be prepared to seek a broad, coherent overview of the period to tie the relatively discrete themes together. A couple of pages provide key dates and brief descriptions of Leonardo's notebooks as well as information about the artifacts reproduced in the book.

Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus

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