Through this collection, readers will enjoy the lighter side of da Vinci and see that not only was he a master artist and inventor, but an original storyteller who entertained his patrons during court festivities by sharing stories, jests, riddles, and magic tricks.

The book begins with Prophecies, followed by the Fables on animals, on lifeless objects, on plants, and the Studies on the Life and Habits of Animals, in which Leonardo presents a curious sequence of animals and their description. It ends with the Jests and Tales and the Final Prophecies. Among these delightful and amusing writings, we find satires, fables, aphorisms, anecdotes, prophetic sayings, and enigmatic statements, ingeniously created or reproduced by the unique mind of Leonardo da Vinci.

"Collection of ... [da Vinci's] stories, riddles, jests, and puzzles illustrated with his own drawings"--Dustjacket.

This selection offers a cross-section from the 6,000 surviving sheets that constitute Leonardo's notebooks, including his thoughts on landscape, optics, anatomy, architecture, sculpture, and painting. Fully updated, this new edition includes some 70 line drawings and a Preface by Leonardo expert Martin Kemp.

A singular fatality has ruled the destiny of nearly all the most famous of Leonardo da Vinci's works. Two of the three most important were never completed, obstacles having arisen during his life-time, which obliged him to leave them unfinished; namely the Sforza Monument and the Wall-painting of the Battle of Anghiari, while the third—the picture of the Last Supper at Milan—has suffered irremediable injury from decay and the repeated restorations to which it was recklessly subjected during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Nevertheless, no other picture of the Renaissance has become so wellknown and popular through copies of every description. Vasari says, and rightly, in his Life of Leonardo, "that he laboured much more by his word than in fact or by deed", and the biographer evidently had in his mind the numerous works in Manuscript which have been preserved to this day. To us, now, it seems almost inexplicable that these valuable and interesting original texts should have remained so long unpublished, and indeed forgotten. It is certain that during the XVIth and XVIIth centuries their exceptional value was highly appreciated. This is proved not merely by the prices which they commanded, but also by the exceptional interest which has been attached to the change of ownership of merely a few pages of Manuscript. Preface I. Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting II. Linear Perspective. III. Six books on Light and Shade. IV. Perspective of Disappearance. V. Theory of colours. VI. Perspective of Colour and Aerial Perspective. VII. On the Proportions and on the Movements of the Human Figure. VIII. Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting. IX. The Practice of Painting. X. Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations. XI. The notes on Sculpture. XII. Architectural Designs. XIII. Theoretical writings on Architecture. XIV. Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology. XV. Astronomy. XVI. Physical Geography. XVII. Topographical Notes. XVIII.

An exploration of the compositional methods and sources of Leonardo’s fables to investigate their relationship with illustrations and scientific studies.

An exploration of the compositional methods and sources of Leonardo's fables to investigate their relationship with illustrations and scientific studies.

This masterly account of Leonardo da Vinci and his vision of the world is now widely recognized as the classic treatment of Leonardo's art, science, and thought, giving an unparalleled insight into the broadening and deepening of Leonardo's intellect and vision throughout his artistic career. Martin Kemp, one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo, takes us on a journey through the whole span of the great man's career. From his early training in Florence, through masterpieces such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, to the work of Leonardo's last years, this book gives a fully integrated picture of his artistic, scientific, and technological achievements. Generously illustrated, and now including a new introductory chapter setting Leonardo's work in its historical context, this fully updated new edition provides an unparalleled insight into the marvellous works of this central figure in western art.

Fred Klineis a well-known art historian, dealer, connoisseur, and explorer who has made a career of scouring antique stores, estate sales, and auctions looking for unusual—and often misidentified—works of art. Many of the gems he has found are now in major museum collections like the Frick, the Getty, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But this book is about the discovery of one piece in particular. . . About ten years ago, when Kline was routinely combing through a Christie's catalog, a beautiful little drawing caught his eye. Attributed to Carracci, it came with a very low estimate, but Kline's every instinct told him that the attribution was wrong. He placed a bid and the low asking price and bought the drawing outright. And that was the beginning of how Kline discovered Leonardo da Vinci's model drawing for the Infant Jesus and the Infant St. John. It is the first work by da Vinci to have surfaced in over a century. LEONARDO'S HOLY CHILD chronicles not only the story of this amazing discovery, from Kline's research all over the world to how exactly attributions work with regards to the old masters (most of their works are unsigned). Kline also sheds light on the idea of "connoisseurship," an often-overlooked facet of art history that's almost Holmesian in its intricacy and specificity.