Leonardo XL

Da Vinci in detail: Leonardos life and work - the definitive edition. All pictures, all drawings! Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) possessed one of the greatest minds of all time; his importance and influence are inestimable. This XXL-format comprehensive survey is the most complete book ever made on the subject of this Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist and all-around genius. With huge, full-bleed details of Leonardos masterworks, this highly original publication allows the reader to inspect the subtlest facets of his brushstrokes. - Part I explores Leonardos life and work in ten chapters, drawing upon his letters, contracts, diary entries, and writings. All of his paintings are presented and interpreted in depth, with The Annunciation and The Last Supper featured on large double-spreads. - Part II comprises a catalogue raisonne of Leonardos paintings, which covers all of his surviving and lost painted works and includes texts describing their states of preservation. Each and every painting that can be justifiably attributed to Leonardo is included here; thanks to new findings and scientific research, this is the first time his definitive painting oeuvre is being published. - Part III contains an extensive catalogue of his drawings (numbering in the thousands, they cannot all be reproduced in one book); 663 are presented, arranged by category (architecture, technical, anatomical, figures, proportion, cartography, etc). Over half of the drawings included were provided by Windsor Castle, marking the first time that the Castle has allowed a publisher to reproduce so many of their drawings. This sumptuous TASCHEN offering is the most thorough and beautifully produced Leonardo book ever published. This book of 600 pages is monumental in size and content. It covers all paintings and almost everything else Leonardo did in his lifetime, including what went lost. The author provides the meaning and the historical context of Leonardos work, the publisher provides an outstanding outlet to showcase the immense work of Leonardo the painter, the engineer, the architect, the sculptor, the anatomist, the genius ahead of his time. The book is divided in three parts (each one a book in itself): Life and Work; the Complete Paintings; the Graphic Work. The book is beautiful to read and to watch and whatever is the price, take it! It is worth every cent. You will not be able to stop to watch its brilliant paintings and drawings. Highly recommended.