Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings |
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Pietro C. Marani
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Pages: 384 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0810991594
Pub: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Pub date: 2003-10-01
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 256683
Editorial Review:
In this magnificent book, Pietro Marani, the director of the project to restore Leonardo's Last Supper, presents all the artist's known paintings. The history and significance of each are analysed 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 at first hand, 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 art works 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 the 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
Reader Reviews:
A beautiful book on Da Vinci's works (24/28 people found this helpful)
This is definitely the best illustrated book on Leonardo's works that I have seen to date. Some of the close up photos are outstanding and the text is written in a professional but readable style.
I enjoyed the chapter dealing with the restoration works on the Last Supper and the chapter dealing with portraits makes excellent reading.
I was a little disappointed with the rather thin coverage of his later works especially The Virgin and Saint Anne although once again the picture quality is superb.
The focus of the book is clearly Leonardo's paintings as opposed to his life but I would recommend it to anyone wanting to enjoy his work through a book.
Luxurious seminal work on Leonardo da Vinci (27/30 people found this helpful)
This is surely one of the best and most luxurious art monographs ever produced. It contains the complete (and that reads COMPLETE) paintings of the italian master, including a huge array of preparatory studies and sketches. Any serious art lover will recognise that the detail and quality of the reproductions is unsurpassed by any other art book on da Vinci, with delightful images of the old favourites (Annunciation, Gioconda, etc). This book contains none of that same old dusty stock photography but lots of fresh specially commissioned images that show the classics in a new favourable light. It even contains a beautiful image of Last Supper in all its recently restored glory. This is definitely a book every art lover and da Vinci fan should have in their collection, if not in pride of place on the coffee table!
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> Painting & Drawing -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> History of Art & Architecture -> By Chronology -> Renaissance to Mannerism: 1400-1600 -> Bestsellers
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> History of Art & Architecture -> By Chronology -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> Styles & Movements -> Renaissance -> Bestsellers
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> Styles & Movements -> Renaissance -> Painting
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Font Size (format_browse-bin) -> Regular Size