LEONARDO DA VINCI

Photographs Dale DiMauro

Last month I finished reading LEONARDO DA VINCI by Walter Isaacson. This is the best written book I have ever read about Leonardo. It is thoroughly researched with compelling diagnosis of his major projects and awe-inspiring.

The author discloses that 7,200 pages of Leonardo's notes and drawings amazingly survive to date, four hundred plus years, since they were recorded. Isaacson discloses that this likely represents one quarter of what Leonardo actually produced. These very drawings inspired me to dust off my fountain pen and put it to use. 

One of the emphasis of the book is Leonardo's endless curiosity with careful study and an active imagination. The reader gets the sense that by the time Leonardo finished his paintings or at least the ones he completed, his fertile mind and knowledge were leaps and bounds from the approach he had when he first sat down to start the painting.

I cannot do justice to the new discoveries about his life and work revealed in this book. After all the book is over five hundred pages long. However, there is one chapter in particular that I found fascinating above all others. 

In 1998 a drawing of a young women in profile came on the market and was then found in a gallery in Manhattan. After much research using modern technology and art experts across several continents it is attributed to Leonardo. The chapter goes on to trace the journey to identify the creator and it's existence since its creation. Research like this make the book a fascinating read.