Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book is an anthology of writings by Leonardo da Vinci, with a selection of documents relating to his career as an artist. This book is an invaluable reference work for art historians as well as for anyone interested in the mind and methods of one of the world's greatest creative geniuses.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

A translation and compendium of Leonardo da Vinci's writings on art. As the brief introduction explains, Leonardo's haphazard notes for a treatise on painting were collected after his death by a pupil, Francesco Melzi. This anthology served as the core for the present book, having been reorganized by editor Martin Kemp and cotranslator Margaret Walker in a more coherent fashion and supplemented with a variety of analogous statements on artistic theory and practice culled from Leonardo's notebooks. Although Kemp admits that the assembly of the sources, some dating from as much as a quarter of a century apart, involved a "radical" selection and editing of Leonardo's writings, the result is not only highly readable but appears to do full justice to Leonardo's ideas. Also included are documentary sources and letters illuminating Leonardo's career; the manuscript sources for all of Leonardo's statements are fully cited in the notes. The volume is skillfully translated and is illustrated with appropriate examples of drawings and paintings by the artist. The only comparable, affordable version of Leonardo's writings was the "World's Classics" edition first published in 1952 (Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, ed. by I.A. Richter); but Kemp's more lucid and better-organized text should serve as the standard source for years to come. Recommended for all academic libraries. J. I. Miller California State University, Long Beach