Leonardo da Vinci On Painting (Illustrated)
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Leonardo da Vinci On Painting (Illustrated) Details
To anyone who wants to unleash their inner potential as an artist, this book is the real Da Vinci Code.There are many books that promise to teach you how to paint like the Old Masters, but only this one was written by the Old Master himself. In this practical guide which has been used for centuries as a basic textbook in the finest art schools, Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest painters who ever lived, reveals the secrets of his art. The most practical and down-to-earth of the great Masters, da Vinci provides usable advice on a wide variety of topics, from constructing perspective and mixing paints to reflecting on the nature of art itself. The text is designed to be used by beginners and experienced painters alike, and is brought to life with illustrations prepared by Nicole Poussin and Alberti based on da Vinci’s own specifications. Like his paintings, da Vinci’s advice to artists is even more valuable now than it was centuries ago."Leonardo da Vinci On Painting" is presented here in an authoritative and fluid English translation, meticulously edited and formatted for Kindle.
Reviews
Originally titled De pictura in Tuscan and published in 1435. This edition is a reprint of an edition published by Phaidon Press in 1972, translated by Cecil Grayson, with an introduction and notes by Martin Kemp. Reprinted with copious bibliographic notes with a revised further reading in 2004. I had this book for a Renaissance Florence history class, along with many other works on art, architecture, politics, commerce, and so forth. Though a short important book, I don't find it all that memorable. While I appreciate it as a seminal book in the historiography of literature, as a book that changed the world, it is not a subject of interest. One needs a comprehension of geometry to understand this book, something I lack. It is not a book I would have picked out myself. He occasionally uses mathematical terms that I don't know, such as Superbipartiens, for example. This book is described by Martin Kemp as embodying the twin aspirations of retrospective emulation and progression innovation (p. 19). It has three sections: rudiments, practice, and ends. Alberti used Classical Roman references in his work to support his arguments, especially Pliny's Natural History. So. like all the Humanists of his time, he relied on Classical writers and artists as models to emulate. The present edition includes comments on the translation by Grayson, as well as two dedications by Alberti. One to Filippo Brunelleschi, the other to Giovan Francesco, Prince of Mantua. Alberti says he divided the work into three parts. Part one is entirely mathematical, showing how art arises from roots with Nature itself. The second part puts art in the hands of artists, distinguishes its parts and explains them all. The third part instructs the artist on how he may and should attain complete mastery and understanding of the art of painting. Alberti wants the painter to be learned in the liberal arts, but above all to have a good knowledge of geometry. Then the painter should pleasure in poets and orators, for these have many ornaments in common with painters (p. 88). So what is Alberti's thesis? What is he arguing? He is merely giving advice on how to paint, not just the technique of painting, but on being a well-rounded educated person in the humanist perspective. He advises a moderate diligence, friends should be consulted, opinions from spectators should be heard. The painter's work is intended to please the public (p. 95). In his conclusion he boasts he was the first to write about this most subtle subject, as he puts it. It is an early work on painting, but perhaps not the first. However, it was highly influential with Renaissance artists.