Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa


Book Description

Art historians have long debated the question why sources about the origin of the Mona Lisa portrait provide conflicting information. This monograph presents a solution for this quandary: these 16th century sources don't agree because they are not talking about the same painting. If we consider this possibility, that Leonardo painted not one, but two versions of the Mona Lisa, then all of these problems begin to resolve themselves. In fact, throughout his life Leonardo would often return to a motif or composition for a variety of reasons. Thus we have at least two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, painted by Leonardo with the De Predis brothers in Milan, and two versions of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, painted by Leonardo with his assistants in Florence. In other words, the proposition that Leonardo may have painted not one, but two versions of the Mona Lisa is by no means far-fetched. Nonetheless, it also raises an important question. If Leonardo did paint an earlier version in addition to the Louvre Mona Lisa, where is this portrait today? And how can we determine whether this painting is indeed an autograph, rather than one of the many Mona Lisa versions and copies that are still extant today?The answers to these questions are provided in this book, based on contributions by scholars from around the world. They include Prof. John Asmus of the University of California at San Diego; Prof. Vadim Parfenov at the State Electrotechnical University in St. Petersburg, Russia; Prof. Átila Soares da Costa Filho of the Universidade Cândido Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Prof. Jason Halter of the University of Michigan; and Prof. Robert Meyrick of Aberystwyth University. In addition, this monograph includes contributions by noted art critic Gérard Boudin de l'Arche and two prominent artists, Albert Sauteur and Joe Mullins. The book is edited by Prof. Jean-Pierre Isbouts of Fielding Graduate University at Santa Barbara, CA. His previous publications on Leonardo da Vinci include The Mona Lisa Myth; Young Leonardo: The Evolution of a Revolutionary Artist; and The Da Vinci Legacy, co-authored with Dr. Christopher Brown.




1478, a Year in Leonardo da Vinci’s Career


Book Description

1478 was the year in which Leonardo da Vinci, aged 26, obtained his first official commission and witnessed the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici family. In that year, he probably opened his independent workshop, leaving that of his master Andrea del Verrocchio, and, in its final months, he began to paint two paintings representing the Virgin Mary. One of these paintings is very likely the Benois Madonna at the State Hermitage, St. Petersburg; a work that marks a strong change in Leonardo’s style and power of expression and his representation of light and human emotions. This book provides an in-depth analysis of Leonardo’s growth as an artist in this year, detailing his training, his culture, his collaboration with Verrocchio, and his engagement in the artistic and cultural life of 1460s and 1470s Florence.




Leonardo Da Vinci


Book Description

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the outstanding figures of the Renaissance and of all time.




Leonardo da Vinci


Book Description

Sigmund Freud was already internationally acclaimed as the principal founder of psychoanalysis when he turned his attention to the life of Leonardo da Vinci. It remained Freud’s favourite composition. Compressing many of his insights into a few pages, the result is a fascinating picture of some of Freud’s fundamental ideas, including human sexuality, dreams, and repression. It is an equally compelling – and controversial – portrait of Leonardo and the creative forces that according to Freud lie behind some of his great works, including the Mona Lisa. With a new foreword by Maria Walsh.




Leonardo Da Vinci Painter


Book Description

More iconic images accrue to the name of Leonardo da Vinci than to any other artist. The "Mona Lisa" stands as a sort of primary visual signifier for "Art" itself, just as his drawing of Vitruvian Man stands as a primary visual signifier for "Man." This new da Vinci monograph presents this ultimate Renaissance man's complete corpus, from the most renowned oil paintings such as "Lady with an Ermine," "Virgin of the Rocks" and "Mona Lisa" to frescoes such as "The Last Supper" in Santa Maria delle Grazie Church and the ceiling frescoes of the Sala delle Asse in Castello Sforzesco in Milan. All works are reproduced in full-color plates, many of them augmented with detail plates that reveal the extraordinary care lavished by the artist upon his canvases. Also included are da Vinci's preparatory drawings and cartoons; works no longer extant, such as "The Battle of Anghiari," are enumerated as part of the da Vinci corpus. Affordably priced and superbly produced, this volume offers a basic da Vinci monograph for all. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was born in Florence and studied with the renowned painter Verrocchio, qualifying as a "master" at the age of 20 in 1472. After his apprenticeship he worked for Ludovico il Moro, later moving to Rome, Bologna and Venice before settling in France, where his final three years were spent in the service of François I.




The Renaissance Nude


Book Description

A gloriously illustrated examination of the origins and development of the nude as an artistic subject in Renaissance Europe Reflecting an era when Europe looked to both the classical past and a global future, this volume explores the emergence and acceptance of the nude as an artistic subject. It engages with the numerous and complex connotations of the human body in more than 250 artworks by the greatest masters of the Renaissance. Paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, and book illustrations reveal private, sometimes shocking, preoccupations as well as surprising public beliefs—the Age of Humanism from an entirely new perspective. This book presents works by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Martin Schongauer in the north and Donatello, Raphael, and Giorgione in the south; it also introduces names that deserve to be known better. A publication this rich in scholarship could only be produced by a variety of expert scholars; the sixteen contributors are preeminent in their fields and wide-ranging in their knowledge and curiosity. The structure of the volume—essays alternating with shorter texts on individual artworks—permits studies both broad and granular. From the religious to the magical and the poetic to the erotic, encompassing male and female, infancy, youth, and old age, The Renaissance Nude examines in a profound way what it is to be human.




The Da Vinci Globe


Book Description

A chance discovery at a distinguished London map fair in 2012 by a Belgian globe collector produced the most unique of finds: a distinct globe with mysterious images, such as old ships, sailors, a volcano, a hybrid monster, pentimenti, waving patterns, conic individualised mountains, curving rivers, vigorous coastal lines, chiaroscuro and an unresolved triangular anagram, which remains an enigma. The globe is hand-engraved in great detail on ostrich egg shells from Pavia by a left-handed Renaissance genius of unquestionable quality. It shows secret knowledge of the map world from the time of Columbus, Cabral, Amerigo Vespucci and Leonardo da Vinci. Central and North America are covered by a vast ocean. The da Vinci globe originates from Florence and dates from 1504. It marks the first time ever that the names of countries such as Brazil, Germania, Arabia and Judea have appeared on a globe. A Leonardo drawing for this globe, showing the coast of the New World and Africa has been discovered in the British Library. This book brings the reader through a fabulous journey of scholars, maps, riddles, rebuses, iconographic symbols and enigmatic phrases such as HIC SVNT DRACONES to illuminate the da Vinci globe. It details 500 years of mystery, fine scholarship and expert forensic testing at numerous material science laboratories the world over. The da Vinci globe now takes its rightful place, surpassing the Lenox globe, its copper-cast identical twin, as the most mysterious globe of our time. As such, this monograph is an essential text in Leonardo studies and in the history of cartography.




Leonardo da Vinci


Book Description

The life and work of the great Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) have proved endlessly fascinating for generations. In Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin Nuland completes his twenty-year quest to understand an unlettered man who was a painter, architect, engineer, philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. What was it that propelled Leonardo’s insatiable curiosity? Nuland finds clues in his subject’s art, relationships, and scientific studies—as well as in a vast quantity of notes that became widely known in the twentieth century. Scholarly and passionate, Nuland’s Leonardo da Vinci takes us deep into the first truly modern, empirical mind, one that was centuries ahead of its time.




Leonardo da Vinci


Book Description

Leonardo da Vinci: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works covers all aspects of his life and work, beginning with his paintings, including several he never completed, that form the core of his artistic oeuvre. The extensive A to Z section includes several hundred entries. The bibliography provides a comprehensive list of publications concerning his life and work Includes a detailed chronology detailing Leonardo Da Vinci’s life, family, and work. The A to Z section includes Leonardo’s main patrons, the major places he worked, and the artists and scholars whose work and ideas played an important role in the formation of his career. The bibliography includes a list of publications concerning his life and work. The index thoroughly cross-references the chronological and encyclopedic entries.