REQUIRED READING Serge Bramly Leonardo Da Vinci: The Artist and the Man, 1995 Leonardo's Life Born in the Tuscan village of Vinci near Florence, Leonardo (1452-1519) was the embodiment of the "Universal Renaissance Man," or uomo universale. He worked as a sculptor and architect, and also painted a small number of pictures. He kept voluminous notebooks and wrote on many topics, with plans to publish treatises on painting, anatomy, mechanics, and water, among others. He is also left notes on geometry, bronze casting, ancient weapons, a bestiary, riddles, fables, and more, and was famed for his inventions. Although regarded as a Florentine artist, he worked mostly in Milan, as a military engineer for the Sforzas, and died in France at the court of Francis I. Leonardo da Vinci (through Grove Art Online) RESTRICTED ACCESS - SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Leonardo's Paintings and Drawings Leonardo da Vinci (through the Web Gallery of Art) Paintings until 1480 Paintings in the 1480s Paintings in the 1490s Late paintings (1501-20) Copies and workshop works The Battle of Anghiari Studies to paintings later executed (page 1) Studies to paintings later executed (page 2) Head studies Various studies Anatomical studies Studies of nature Drawings of engineering themes Maps Architectural studies Sculptures and studies to sculptures Leonardo - some pointers RECOMMENDED READING Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings, 2000 RECOMMENDED READING Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo Drawings, 1980 Leonardo's "Vitruvian Man" Leonardo's famous drawing is based upon a passage in De Architettura by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius (1st century CE) Leonardo's "Vitruvian Man" Leonardo's Last Supper According to Giorgio Vasari, "Leonardo executed in Milan, for the Dominicans of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a marvellous and beautiful painting of the Last Supper. In it Leonardo brilliantly succeeded in envisaging and reproducing the tormented anxiety of the apostles to know who had betrayed their master." The Last Supper Giorgio Vasari on Leonardo's Last Supper (scroll down) Leonardo's Mona Lisa The portrait now in the Louvre is believed to be the same one that Vasari says Leonardo took to France with him. Upon Leonardo's death in 1519 it was there acquired by François I, the King of France, and later, as part of the royal collection, became part of the Louvre Museum. The portrait purportedly shows Mona Lisa, who had married Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanoli del Giocondo in 1495. The portrait is also known by the title "La Gioconda," after the surname of Mona Lisa's husband. Scholars have concluded that Leonardo worked on the portrait over a long period, starting around 1505-1506 in Florence. It was finished perhaps during Leonardo's stay in Milan or Rome. Leonardo's Mona Lisa Leonardo's Writings In his quest for knowledge, driven by a remarkable curiosity, Leonardo kept many notebooks filled with his own observations, explanations, comments, notes, outlines, musings, and jottings, many accompanied by pen-and-ink drawings, sketches, plans, diagrams, and preparatory studies. Most of Leonardo's notebooks have have been lost, but a number are preserved today in libraries and private collections. Leonardo was left-handed, and in order to facilitate his note-taking, he wrote in mirror-writing, from right to left.

Further Reading Richard A. Turner Inventing Leonardo, 1994 Kenneth Clark Leonardo Da Vinci, 1993 [1952] SWEET BRIAR LIBRARY ND 623 .L5 C5 1952 Frank Zollner and Johannes Nathan Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Drawings and Paintings, 2003 Carmen C. Bambach (ed.) Leonardo Da Vinci: Master Draftsman, 2003 SWEET BRIAR LIBRARY NC 257 .L4 A4 2003 Leonardo Da Vinci A Treatise on Painting, 2002 Martin Kemp Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Leonardo da Vinci with a Selection of Documents Relating to his Career, 2001 Leonardo Da Vinci The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Volume 1), 1970 Vito Zani Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper, 2003 Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, Pietro C. Marani Leonardo: The Last Supper, 2001 Leonardo Da Vinci Prophecies, 2003

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