Customer Reviews

Leonardo da Vinci: Revised Edition

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Kenneth Clark's book is probably the best available introduction to Leonardo da Vinci. It is both a good biography and an insightful analysis of Leonardo's art and artistic career. The text is appropriate for both laymen and students of art history. Clark's writing is concise and extremely engaging (to the point where I would recommend reading this book for fun), but it is also intelligent and very informative, with a clear thesis that ties the vast body of matieral covered together into an easily comprehensible package. This book is slightly out of date now, but Martin Kemp's introduction and revision help to ammend for that. I particularly recommend this most recent edition as it is well-illustrated.

This is THE classic monograph on Leonardo da Vinci, written with grace, sensitivity, and an incomparable knowledge of Leonardo's surviving works. Those who have read Kenneth Clark's "Civilization," or seen the TV series which he narrated, already have experienced his wit and intelligence. Clark's "Leonardo" first came out in 1939, then was reissued in 1959 and 1967, with the author's revisions. Martin Kemp's new edition brings the bibliography up to date, expands the illustrations, and provides an informative evaluation of Clark's accomplishment. Kemp is currently the world's premier Leonardo scholar. The description posted for Clark's "Leonardo" describing the book as a DK edition is for a DIFFERENT Leonardo book, not for Kenneth Clark's "Leonardo," which is a Penguin publication. I hope my review will be linked to the correct page.

This is the best book available in English on Leonardo da Vinci. True, the book was first published several decades ago, but the art historian Martin Kemp has added footnotes that bring the text up to date. Kenneth Clark made a tremendous contribution to the study of Leonardo da Vinci with this book - Science and Technology Museum notwithstanding!!!!

This work provides a good introduction to the fascinating subject of Leonardo and his creative genius. Clark writes with elegance and insight about the whole span of Leonardo's career. He focuses on the drawings and provides the reader with an understanding of Leonardo's technical and artistic accomplishment. Clark is also reserved in his claims of understanding the mystery of Leonardo's personality and human relation.
Like Leonardo in his inventions Clark does not supply the full and final detail that gives the complete picture. His work is a fascinating introduction which however gives a basic understanding of the subject.

Leonardo da Vinci. Probably the greatest painter, scientist, inventor, and philosopher of the High Renaissance, he changed the way we look at art and science. This book unravels all of the secrets of Leonardo, and the dark corners of his life. He considered himself a failure during his lifetime, but today, he is one of the greatest people in history. His inventions, theories, paintings, sketches, all shown in this book, and this book, there are some of his 4,500 pages of notes. This book reveals all that is known about his life today, and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about Leonardo.

It seems a well written and informative book, but i wish any one of the reviewers had mentioned there are no color plates at all here, everything is black and white, I would have gone elsewhere had i known as there are others to choose from. I don't understand the reasoning behind such an economy at all.

It was a pleasant surprise to me reading that book. I was really impressed by Kenneth Clark's style. It is a kind of poetic,I think.He also tries to analyse the symbolic language of the artist, to penetrate to Leonard's mind. Although the logic of the passage is not very clear,
Clark is trying to transfer the intellectual context of each picture.
In fact, he lacked a systematic knowledge of the manuscripts, but he conveys a penetraion that is at heart founded upon his intuitions of the paintings and drawings. Clark has tried to realise Leonardo's mind behind the paintings and writings. I am fond of the literary description he uses in a a way we are relatively unfamiliar, an old way.
When I started to read the book I was looking forward to reach the "Last Supper". Clark exactlly described my own feelings when I saw the picture. 'It is a work of nature than a work of man.Before such a picture the difficulty is not to analyse our feelings as to have any feelings at all." He has tried to imagine and understand Leonardo's feelings and thoughts when he was painting the "Last Supper" and exactly that he tried to transmit to us, in such a sweet and poetic way. I could never had enough of this part.
I was also impressed from the way he describes the" Virgin of the rocks". After an elaborated description of the angel and the infant Saint John and the virgin as well he wonders if the whole picture has a deeper meaning. Besides, he also juxtaposes the two "Virgins of the rocks".
There are a few parts of Leonardo's drawings for the horses although it took him such a long time to draw them. He liked to draw horses very much. In fact, there aren't much about his drawings or his notes.
I didn't like the fact that pictures were not coloured. How can one imagine the coloures Leonardo used and the true tuxture of the painting?
It is a great disadvantage not having coloured plates.
In conclusion, I would liKe to cite the following: To Leonardo a landscape like a human being, was a part of a vast machine, to be understood part by part if possible, in the whole. Rocks were not simply decorative silhouettes. They were part of the earth's bones with anatomy of their own caused by some remote seismic upheaval. Clouds were not random curls of the brush, drawn by some celestial artist, but were the congregation of tiny drops formed from the evaporation of the sea andsoon would pour back their rain into the rivers.(discussion of the 'Mona Lisa").

I uedd this text for an Art History class and it was not only useful and insightful, but also intriguing and well-organized. After having so many dry texts that are all fact, no fun, this was a refreshing change. It still had all the fact of a text book, but presented in a much more entertining and useful manner. I just wish all Art History texts were as easy to read while still being as informative

This really wonderful book by Clark, with its good introduction by Martin Kemp, was marred by the very bad quality of the plates. They're all black and white and every one is washed out (with the exception of the color cover), perhaps because the printing plates are old and worn out. Shame on Penguin for releasing such a poor quality product, especially in these days of quality reproduction. If you can be content with just the extremely good text (I was not), no problem, but be warned. The copy I received 3/11/09 was a 1993 reprint of the 1989 edition.

Kenneth Clark gives an unpropogating look at Da Vinci. All too often Leonardo's name has been attached to support a variety of causes of this or that nature. Being, seemingly, irreligious and unphilosophic while being the quintessential Renassaince Man. His name is often used as a mascot to justify the ideals of this or that group of whatever. He was clearly an animal rights lover, possibly a closet Franciscan, in all probability a homosexual (although not much of an activist). Leonardo was into his thoughts and had little patience for something that was already complete in his mind. He left scores of unfinished works, and minons of angry patrons - contrary to Bornstin's book that Leonardo was in constant search of patrons - Clark says he had many unhappy patrons. Leonardo was an animal lover who hated violence (although he designed armaments of various sorts). His depth of religious devotion could be argued, but he was not irreverant, as some have claimed. Leonardo was rather Franciscan and had a fondness for animals and individuality. He was free and valued his own individualism. Other than Da Vinci's notebooks nothing much authentic comes down to us. Every other work of Leonardo has been severally retouched or destroyed, what there is left of Leonardo's work is highly speculative - what bit is in his hand ect. Clark gives a healthy, vibrant, nonproselytizing look at a genius - something anyone might find interesting.