Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) stands as a supreme icon in the history of Western civilization. With much of his work lost or unfinished, the key to his legacy is without doubt to be found in the enormous body of his extant drawings and accompanying manuscript notes. Famous for their beauty and technical virtuosity, Leonardo's drawings were avidly sought by collectors even during his lifetime. This volume offers a portrait of Leonardo as a draftsman, integrating his diverse roles as an artist, scientist, inventor, theorist and teacher. A chronological framework is also provided in order to shed light on his extraordinary life and career. The essays and entries - written by the world's leading Leonardo scholars - survey the wide variety of drawing types that Leonardo used and also examine a small group of works by artists critical to his artistic development in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan.
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Artist, theorist, scientist, and inventor--these words cannot capture the genius that is Leonardo DaVinci. However, curator and editor Carmen C. Bambach brings us a little closer to unlocking his mystery in Leonardo DaVinci: Mater Draftsman. The book comprises a collection of 11 essays by world-renowned Leonardo connoisseurs, along with 515 exquisite illustrations, to create a perfect balance between scholarship and aesthetics. Serving as the catalogue for the exhibition of the same name at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the book focuses on Leonardo's drawings: his studies for some of his unfinished, lost, or unrealized paintings and projects, stunning anatomical and engineering studies, 8 pages from the Codex Leicester (Leonardo's draft for a treatise on the dynamics of water), and his studies of grotesque physiognomies, which taken together, reveal the master's notion that beauty and ugliness are reciprocally enhanced by their juxtaposition. The result also sheds light on his extraordinary contribution as a draftsman "to the design process of narrative composition."
Leonardo has left us a mere handful of mostly unfinished--albeit magnificent--paintings. Yet, as Bambach explains, the quantity of his extant drawings (about 4,000 or more) is about 4 times that of the most prolific 16th-century draftsman. To be sure, it is through these drawings, along with the eloquent commentary, that Leonardo's infinite and dynamic creative power can best be glimpsed. From the whimsical to the sublime, from the scientific to the mechanical, these drawings reveal Leonardo's dependence on observation and nature, as well as his tireless use of drawing as a means to explore and express his ever-probing mind. The catalogue takes us on a chronological journey, revealing the vast influence of Leonardo's teacher Andrea Verrocchio, and subsequently shows us Leonardo's influence on his students and beyond. The beauty, power, and scope of this book are evidence that there is no end to pondering his remarkable and enigmatic genius. --Silvana Tropea
From Publishers Weekly
Leonardo da Vinci may have been "the very embodiment of the universal Renaissance genius," but he was famous for failing to complete projects and commissions; his extant paintings number not much more than a dozen. His drawings and their associated notes (currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 2003), therefore, are crucial to our understanding of the man as artist and polymath. As Bambach, curator of prints and drawings at the Met, notes in her introduction, critical scrutiny of Leonardo's drawings have largely "neglected issues of their technique and function." The subject is a rich one, as is the state of art-making in the Renaissance, the largely self-taught master's left-handedness, the meandering journeys his paintings and drawings took after he died and the recent findings about his Florentine patrons, as the grand heft of this immaculately produced catalogue attests. Studies such as "Leonardo's Grotesques: Originals and Copies" by Varena Forcione, a curator at the Louvre, may be daunting for Leonardo novices, but overall the essays pay clear, cogent attention topics such as the role Leonardo's notary father played in advancing his son's career, the spread of Leonardo's aesthetic innovations and the union of his scientific and artistic aptitudes. "If the artist in him often got buried by the scientific investigator," Bambach writes, "the scientist's powers of observation also immeasurably amplified the artist's powers of evocation." This is a beautiful compendium and a rich storehouse of Leonardo scholarship for both the newcomer and the art historian. 515 illus., including 333 color plates.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Definitive Tome on da Vinci as genius,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)
LEONARDO DA VINCI: MASTER DRAFTSMAN is a magnificent addition to the library about this extraordinary Renaissance genius. Published as a 'catalogue' for the exhibition that just left the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the weighty book is successful on all levels. The Curator and driving force fo the exhibition, Carmen C. Bambach, has firmly established her credentials in this vast survey of da Vinci's drawings of human anatomy, both precise observations (eg 'Abdomen and Left Leg of a Nude Man Standing in Profile page 556) and artistic distortions ( the grotesque faces on pages 684 - 693), of his 'inventions' as a scientist, of simple observations ('A Copse of Trees'on page 469 for instance), of the technical aspects of drawing and painting (brilliantly executed examples of draping the figure as on pages 289 and 563), and sketches for numerous painting proposals. The first 225 pages of this elegant book are devoted to various essays about da Vinci, all written by erudite scholars who are immensely readable. The last half of the book is an in-depth presentation of the catalogue of the show, serenely annotated by Carmen Bambach. There are ample sections of documentation and easy references to the bibiliography and timeline for da Vinci's life. The drawings and paintings are beautifuly reproduced on first quality paper and the book, (though heavy as a lap book!), is artistically designed and produced. This magnificent volume will be the gold standard for da Vinci's drawings and should be part of every library on the Renaissance and on art history. Highly Recommended.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece Publication,
By Nicola Linza "Sig. Nicola Giacomo Aluigi Gius... (Palm Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)
World famous for their sublime beauty and technical virtuosity, Leonardo's drawings were avidly sought by collectors even during his lifetime. In this day of being flooded with inferior music and art in the mass media it is without question that Leonardo da Vinci remains an icon of Italian art history and a pillar of Western civilization.
So much of his work has been sadly lost or is in an unfinished state, one key to his legacy is found in the body of his extant drawings and accompanying manuscript notes which have survived. Yale University Press has once again released a masterpiece publication published in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to compliment the first comprehensive international loan exhibition of Leonardo's drawings in the United States. This book is the catalogue for the show to be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from January 22 to March 30, 2003 and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, from April 28 to July 7, 2003. This handsome volume offers a unified and fascinating portrait of Leonardo as a draftsman, integrating his diverse roles as an artist, scientist, inventor, theorist, and teacher. A chronological framework is also provided in order to shed light on his extraordinary life and career. The essays and entries are brilliantly written by the world's leading Leonardo scholars. They survey the wide variety of drawing types that Leonardo used, and also examine a small group of works by artists critical to his artistic development in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan. This is an invaluable source of information on Leonardo. The Codex Leicester is examined as are the much copied studies of grotesques physiognomies. There is a discussion of Leonardo's drawings in Milan and their influence on the graphic work of Milanese artists providing useful clues to his enormous influence on those artists as well as the best artists of today. Leonardo's graphic oeuvre is examined as is his early drapery studies. An impressive catalogue if that is what one could call this masterwork of publication it is a must for Italian art scholars and art connoisseurs period. This is no lightweight work at 512 pp. 50 b/w + 200 colorplates with detailed descriptions of 138 individual works surveying the wide variety of types within his portfolio of work. This is destined to be a highly sought after volume.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leonardo DaVinci-Master Draftsman by Bambach,
By Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca CPA,... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)
This book is written for art enthusiasts. The potential readership includes historians, artists, museum curators and students of world culture, art and history. The work is perfect for a term or class project. It has many famous
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