Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius of the Renaissance--His Life in Paintings

Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: DK has accustomed us to great and attractively published art books, so I am sorry to say that its new series of illustrated "Artist" books is a big disappointment. I suppose it is meant to replace [?] DK's popular EyeWitness series, but it is a poor trade off. The book on Leonardo [one of several in the series] is a collection of superficial soundbites about the artist haphazardly thrown together without much coherence. The Mona Lisa, for example, receives mere three sentences of comment, and all three contain banal generalities. Did you know that her smile is mysterious? Or that the landscape in the background has "universal significance" [whatever that means]. You will not learn anything about the extensively researched symbolic elements in The Last Supper, and if you wondered what was the meaning of the "Madonna with the Pomegranate" you will have to look elsewhere. Despite DK's claim that each book in the series was authored by "a noted art historian" most of the books in the new series, including this one, do not even list the author on the cover or on the front page, and instead seem to be put together by a large editorial committee listed at the back [with the author of the text listed in minuscule text half way down the page]. There are other serious problems as well. Art reproductions are quite dark and small, compared to DK's similarly priced EyeWitness series books, and all important paintings are ruined by awkward and very intrusive squares and lines marked directly on them to provide comments. Reproductions do not include dimensions, and there is no painting title index at the end of the book, so finding a specific painting means thumbing through the pages. The main text of the series is typeset in a tall, narrow typeface which is rather awkward to read. There are no references to sources or suggested readings, so it is impossible to verify the origin of some surprisingly curious and unlikely claims [e.g. that Spanish Luis de Morales was influenced by Leonardo, p. 131]. Overall, this book and several titles of the new series I had a chance to browse through [on Goya, Caravaggio, and Bosch] compare unfavorably to similarly priced and just as attractively illustrated but well-researched and documented Discoveries Series from Abrams [e.g their book on Goya], or even with DK's own titles from the EyeWitness series.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Pictures - But It's An Art Book
Review: I felt this book was tremendous for not only finding out what Leonardo's famous paintings are but also to compare his paintings to the works of many others. This book is full of paintings and sculpture. You're not going to get an in depth discussion of the history and theories behind each painting but I don't think that's the intent of a book like this. There's a lot of good information at the end also about famous artists of the Renaissance. Leonardo's painting talents were not only in his technique but also in the ideas and arrangements for the paintings. For example in 'The Last Supper' the figures are arranged in a unique way and 'The Virgin of the Rocks' introduced completely new ideas. Many other painters benefitted and used some of these ideas. Leonardo had a tremendous talent for painting the human face and accurately capturing the affects of light and shadow in paintings. He viewed painting as a science really which I think was more or less one of his unique characteristics. This book also mentions some of Leonardo's criticisms of others. Leonardo was never one to hesitate to criticize other people. He made a famous statement one time that many people are nothing more than consumers of food and producers of waste.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Pictures - But It's An Art Book
Review: I felt this book was tremendous for not only finding out what Leonardo's famous paintings are but also to compare his paintings to the works of many others. This book is full of paintings and sculpture. You're not going to get an in depth discussion of the history and theories behind each painting but I don't think that's the intent of a book like this. There's a lot of good information at the end also about famous artists of the Renaissance. Leonardo's painting talents were not only in his technique but also in the ideas and arrangements for the paintings. For example in 'The Last Supper' the figures are arranged in a unique way and 'The Virgin of the Rocks' introduced completely new ideas. Many other painters benefitted and used some of these ideas. Leonardo had a tremendous talent for painting the human face and accurately capturing the affects of light and shadow in paintings. He viewed painting as a science really which I think was more or less one of his unique characteristics. This book also mentions some of Leonardo's criticisms of others. Leonardo was never one to hesitate to criticize other people. He made a famous statement one time that many people are nothing more than consumers of food and producers of waste.

Rating:
Summary: A VERY HELPFUL GUIDE TO LEONARDO'S ARTISTIC CAREER.
Review: THIS BRIEF VOLUME ON LEONARDO IS CLEARLY NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE BIOGRAPHY, NOR DOES IT PROVIDE A DETAILED ANAYSIS OF EACH SURVIVING MASTERPIECE. IN 116 PAGES OF TEXT, SUCH A TASK IS SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT IS PROVIDED IS A CONCISE AND VERY WELL-ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO LEONARDO'S OUTPUT AS PAINTER. IN THIS REGARD THE VOLUME WORKS QUITE WELL, AND THE ILLUSTRATIONS AND DETAILS FURNISHED ARE REAL STRENGTHS. I FOUND THE COMPANION VOLUME FROM THIS SERIES ON CARAVAGGIO AN EXCELLENT COMPANION TO PETER RABB'S BIOGRAPHY OF THAT PAINTER, AND I EXPECT THAT THE LEONARDO VOLUME WOULD BE EQUALLY USEFUL AS A GUIDE IN THE READING OF A MORE DETAILED BIOGRAPHY OR STUDY.