Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this magnificent book, Pietro Marani, the director of the project to restore Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, presents all the artist's known paintings. The history and significance of each are analyzed at length: we read, for example, that "from a very early date, Mona Lisa was considered among Leonardo's most extraordinary accomplishments, one that made every other artist 'tremble and lose heart.'" Context is provided by a wealth of related paintings and sketches. The presentation is extravagant: double foldouts show frescoes in their entirety, and small areas are hugely expanded to give access to a world of sensuous detail. The intimacy of these extreme details--a tiny blue landscape glimpsed through a window, or the warm flesh of a baby's foot resting on its mother's arm--is unexpected, and one of the book's many successes.

Marani combines connoisseurship with the technological tools of art history, such as x-ray exploration of revisions in a painting's underdrawings. He has spent his life studying Leonardo's paintings firsthand, so closely that he can point to where the artist lightly blurred layers of paint with his fingertips to suggest the soft skin around the eyes of his portraits of women. A chapter is devoted to Marani's belief that Leonardo was profoundly influenced by ancient artworks rather than being exclusively the "modern genius" described by Romantic critics. The research is fully footnoted, with appendices including checklists of paintings and lost paintings and a collection of all known primary documents referring directly to Leonardo's life. From its enigmatic cover (the lips of the artist's exquisite portrait of Ginevra de' Benci) to its extensive bibliography, Leonardo da Vinci comes the closest this reviewer has seen to being the ultimate art book. --John Stevenson

From Library Journal

Although Marani addresses the whole of da Vinci's fragmentary and limited oeuvre and then some, this volume is in no way a traditional catalogue raisonn?. With a profound familiarity with the relevant scholarship and a keen sensitivity to the paintings, this volume is nevertheless partial and idiosyncratic in its treatment and definition of the master's work. While sharply aware of the paintings' nuances, graphic analogs, and relationship to Renaissance and antique art, the author betrays an inattention to compositional and pictorial innovation, iconographic content, and the problem of the non-finito, which diminishes this work's value as an introductory text. Similarly, the influence of classical sculpture on the later paintings, an important topic worthy of some discussion, is overemphasized. Despite a comprehensive gathering of excellent reproductions, this is a necessary acquisition only for collections serving advanced students of Vinciana.ARobert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810935813
• ISBN-13: 978-0810935815
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 11.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #516,606 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a beautiful book ! Worth every dollar. Don't miss it., January 9, 2001

By	Gustavo H B Alves (Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have no words to describe what I felt enjoying this book. Worth every single dollar it costs. You will never regret buying it and browsing it whenever you wish to. Every Da Vinci's painting is displayed and explained in full details and colors. Starting with Leonardo's apprenticeship in Verrocchio's shop until his first autonomous works, Pietro Marani's book is a must buy not only for all Da Vinci's fans worldwide but to all people who love true art. Don't waste your time with gossip books and stuff... read this book, and you won't be sorry. Never. I assure you. In Brazil, where I live, you don't find such a book easily. Thank God there's Amazon.com to bring me such a treasure as this masterpiece.

57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BELIEVE, December 7, 2000

By	HOLLY B. WILLIAMS (HOUSTON, TEXAS United States) - See all my reviews

THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLETE ART BOOK I HAVE EVER SEEN. I WAS AN ARCHITURE MAJOR FOR A WHILE IN COLLEGE, I TOOK MANY ART HISTORY COURSES; BUT, NONE OFFERED THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK. THERE ARE SEVERAL FOUR-PAGE FOLD OUTS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE REAL THING -- ORIGINAL ART.

THIS MAGNIFICENT VOLUME ALSO CONTAINS ALL THE SKETCHES AND WORK SHEETS THAT LED UP TO THE FINAL PRODUCTION.

I AM WRITING THIS FOR ANYONE IN DOUBT ABOUT BUYING THIS BOOK. BUY IT, YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS UNTIL YOU SEE IT. (AMAZON.COM DIDN'T PAY ME TO SAY THIS.)

THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS. I LOVE THIS BOOK!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Check the Paperback Size!, September 18, 2005

By	David Adams (Minnesota) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings (Paperback)

No matter how other may rave about this book, you must beware the paperback size. It is so much reduced from the hardcover that the print is difficult to read. With my reading glasses it is possible, but without them, it is all a blurr. I would definitely recommend the purchase of the larger hardcover version.