Leonardo da Vinci (Paperback)

~ (Author, Illustrator) "Leonardo da Vinci lived in exciting times..." (more)
Key Phrases: Ser Piero

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Older children will certainly appreciate the wealth of information in this complete and fascinating biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Illustrated in an Old Masters style, the book follows the life of da Vinci from birth to death and gives a detailed account of his extraordinary achievements, not only in his painting but also as an engineer, scientist, and inventor who is centuries ahead of his time. The treatment of da Vinci's famous notebooks usefully conveys the power of the man's imagination. His practice of writing in a backward script from right to left, requiring a mirror to decipher it, will intrigue children. (The dust jacket bears such lettering on the back, which should immediately prompt a run to the bathroom mirror.) An accomplished and engaging biography for children. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Adding this Renaissance genius to the illustrious lineup of individuals whose lives she and Peter Vennema have chronicled, among them Cleopatra, Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, Stanley produces her most stunning pictorial biography to date. Drawing from a range of sources, including her subject's extensive notebooks, Stanley's conversational narrative describes Leonardo da Vinci's astoundingly far-reaching and varied achievements. Young readers will come to appreciate both da Vinci's universally renowned accomplishments as a painter and the breadth of his scientific experimentation and research. While her text is thoroughly intriguing, even more impressive is the artistic challenge Stanley takes on and triumphantly meets: her paintings not only portray the period particulars and likenesses of da Vinci, his patrons and colleagues, but successfully incorporate, in seamless collages, miniature reproductions of such celebrated masterpieces as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. These exquisite reproductions, as well as sepia-toned spot art taken from da Vinci's notebooks, sit uncommonly well within Stanley's own paintings, educating the reader about da Vinci's masterpieces as a natural part of the visual storytelling. A virtuosic work. Ages 7-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (August 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688161553
• ISBN-13: 978-0688161552
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,230 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Man of Vision....., March 10, 2002

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Meet Leonardo da Vinci, a man of vision who was centuries ahead of his time. Born April 15, 1452, and raised in his father's house, Leonardo was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, "...an important man, a leading citizen of Vinci." and a peasant girl. Because of the circumstances of his birth, he was not entitled to an upper class education in banking, medicine, or law, and "what little schooling he got probably came from the parish priest and was limited to reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. He later described himself as an omo sanza lettere, a man without education." As a boy, Leonardo showed talent for drawing, and was sent to Florence to apprentice with the famous artist, Andrea del Verrocchio. And it was there that the course of his life began to take shape. Though his superb artistic talents were quickly recognized, and Leonardo was commissioned to paint many important works during his lifetime, he had a short attention span and was always restless, often failing to complete his pieces. His imagination, his interests and genius went far beyond art and painting. He was fascinated with anatomy, engineering, science, and music, and filled thousands of pages in his now famous notebooks with his ideas, plans, drawings and inventions. He was employed by kings, princes and popes, and was the friend of Machiavelli, Cesar Borgia and King Francis I, of France. But throughout his life he never married, and was a very solitary man..... Diane Stanley brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this beautifully written and well researched, introductory biography. Her easy to read, conversational text is entertaining, engaging and intelligent, and packed full of history, drama, mystery, fun facts, anecdotes, and sketches from Leonardo's notebooks. Her graceful and elegant illustrations complement the story line beautifully, and really capture the essence of the artist and his times. With an introduction detailing the Italian Renaissance, and a Postscript to enhance and complete the narrative, this is an informative and spellbinding biography. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Leonardo da Vinci is a wonderful addition to Ms Stanley's highly acclaimed biographical series, and a book that definitely shouldn't be missed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars His name is Leo, January 30, 2004

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Leonardo Da Vinci is, in many ways, the perfect subject for a children's biography. Above and beyond his myriad of accomplishments (scientist, inventor, artist) his life is one of adventure and interest. The illegitimate son of a leading man of Vinci, Leonardo went into the artistic life precisely because he was considered too base for a, "noble profession".

This book is a combination of good artistry and confounding problems. On the one hand, Stanley has drawn beautiful accompanying pictures for each point in Leonardo's life. On the other hand, these pictures sometimes take liberties with the few details of the artist's life we know of. When the text states that Leonardo, "found a loving friend in his young uncle Francesco", the accompanying picture shows the boy piggyback on his uncle. It would be nice if such facts were given appropriate footnotes, but all sources are listed in the end of the book without any references to pages. Also, the aging of Leonardo is a little haphazard. One moment he's a young man writing a letter. The next moment he's bearded and about to slice up a corpse. The Duchy of Milan is described as having black hair and dark skin, but appears to be more of a slightly tan Italian. These are tiny details, but they distract from an otherwise interesting text.

Undoubtedly, the actual drawings and sketches Leonardo made in his lifetime are some of the best parts of this book. It would have been nice if Stanley had included more of them in the story. Leonardo's paintings are nicely presented, but they're usually seen from a distance. At no point do we get a detailed and close look at any art that Leonardo created. Finally, a timeline would have been helpful in this story, but it has not been included.

None of this is to say that Stanley hasn't taken a difficult subject and made an interesting book out of it. The final product is a bit too advanced for those children accustomed to reading picture books, but older kids may shy away from the type of book they would consider "babyish". Open minded children may be the best audience for this piece of non-fiction. For those of you who would like something a little more in depth and interesting, I recommend "Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer". In interesting book that suffers from an array of tiny nagging problems.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leonard Da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance Man, April 26, 2002

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Leonardo da Vinci (Hardcover)

The cover of this excellent juvenile biography of Leonardo Da Vinci is quite interesting because it shows him as a young man in front of the background from his most famous painting, the "Mona Lisa." I saw a story once that compared the face of the "Mona Lisa" with the famous red ink drawing of Da Vinci as an old man, which did size comparisons and argued they were the same. In other words, the "Mona Lisa" is really a self-portrait of Da Vinci. This makes a bit of sense since the artist worked on it for years, obviously with the benefit of a model. Diane Stanley's cover painting, intentionally or not, references this intriguing hypothesis.

Stanley does some fascinating things with the art throughout this book. She puts reproductions of Da Vinci's actual paintings into her own works and includes various drawings by Da Vinci to complement her text. Young readers will learn about the highlights of Da Vinci's life, both as an artist and as an inventor. Consequently, they will see not only the painting of "The Last Supper" but the flying machine he designed. In a fascinating postscript Stanley details what happened to the grave of Da Vinci and what few of his paintings remain. Stanley provides an excellent introduction to the life of the original Renaissance Man.