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Overview
Leonardo by Leonardo, by Martin J. Kemp, one of the world’s leading authorities on Leonardo da Vinci, presents an astonishing gallery of the master’s 27 existing paintings, as well as the preparatory drawings that formed the basis of his masterpieces. Martin J. Kemp’s narrative is accompanied by extensive written reflections by Leonardo, and is further highlighted by perspectives from his contemporaries.
The legacy of Leonardo da Vinci is a perennial fascination. Not only did he paint what is considered by many to be the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, but he radically changed every genre of painting - religious and secular portraiture, devotional tableaux, and drawing. Leonardo is the genius that towers over the history of Western art. The large scale and unparalleled quality of reproduction in this volume allows “the strange, living presence of his paintings” to exercise their full power and magnetism on the viewer.
With a lifetime of scholarship and insight, Martin J. Kemp takes us inside the world of each masterwork: the artist’s relationship to his patrons; how and why the works were commissioned; their iconography and symbology; the experimental painting techniques he applied; stories of how the paintings survived and changed owners across the centuries; restoration and condition; and finally, the unsolved puzzles that remain to this day.
The utmost care and state-of-the-art digital capture technology has been applied to the new photography of the artworks presented in this collection. No expense has been spared to reproduce the artworks with the highest fidelity to color, tone, and surface. The quality of imaging, ultra-fine resolution printing, archival paper, and binding has produced a book like no other. The result is a power and intimacy between artist and viewer that takes us inside the artist’s mind, eye and spirit.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780935112825 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Callaway |
| Publication date: | 06/07/2019 |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Sales rank: | 909,071 |
| Product dimensions: | 11.00(w) x 14.20(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
WHY A BOOK ON LEONARDO DA VINCI?
Leonardo died five hundred years ago. He completed notably few paintings, pursued many ephemeral activities in Renaissance courts, and published almost nothing on the many sciences and technologies about which he wrote in semilegible mirror script. Why does he matter today and why does he warrant yet another book? The pragmatic answer is that his legacy continues to exercise a magnetic fascination on a universal basis. He painted what is considered by many to be the world’s most famous picture. But being famous for being famous is not enough. There must be something more essential to which we can point. If we want an art historical answer, we can say that he radically reformed every genre of painting that he touched—religious and secular narratives, devotional images, and portraiture. We might add that he was also a great innovator in architectural design, even if he was not the “architect” of any known building. Without him the history of art would have looked very different.
All the paintings definitely by him have a strange, living presence that renders them uncanny and even uncomfortable. They are more than his reconstructions of nature using all the knowledge of causes and effects; they imply and evoke a world that lies below appearance. This is particularly the case after 1500. He achieves it through what I am calling the “optics of uncertainty”—the withdrawal of absolute certainty of seeing, in which the forms, particularly their boundaries, are elusive. Whether the subject is a beloved lady or the Savior, he invites us to infer that there is more than meets the eye. Mona Lisa and Salvator Mundi both deny ultimate access to their secrets in ways that relate intimately to poetic and theological considerations.