LEONARDO DA VINCI: The Complete Paintings and Drawings

This sumptuous Taschen offering is the most thorough and beautifully produced Leonardo book ever published. The catalogue raisonné of Leonardo's paintings covers all of his surviving and lost painted works and includes text describing their states of preservation. Each and every painting that can be justifiably attributed to Leonardo is included here. Part three contains an extensive catalogue of his drawings; numbering in the thousands, they cannot all be produced 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. Unmatched in his ingenuity, technical prowess, and curiosity, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) epitomizes the humanistic ideal of the Renaissance man: a peerless master of painting, sculpture, cartography, anatomy, architecture and more. Simultaneously captivating art historians, collectors, and the millions who flock yearly to admire his works, his images permeate nearly every facet of Western culture - The Vitruvian Man is engraved into millions of Euro coins, The Last Supper is considered the single most reproduced religious painting in history, and the Mona Lisa has entranced countless artists and observers for centuries. This updated edition of the EXTRA LARGE heavyweight monograph is an unrivalled survey of Leonardo's life and work, including a catalogue raisonné of all paintings. Through stunning full-bleed details, we experience every measured brushstroke, and an expansive catalogue of nearly 700 of Leonardo's drawings further illuminates the breadth of his pursuits. From diagrams of intricately engineered machines to portraits of plump infants, for the new edition, Frank Zöllner has written a new preface in which he considers the latest scholarly findings on Leonardo's oeuvre and takes a critical look at the much-discussed painting Christ as Salvator Mundi, sold at auction for the record sum of around 400 million euros. Numerous illustrations have been replaced by new photographs. Beautifully bound and produced, boxed, 29 x 39½cm, 7.63 kg, 712 pages. UK delivery only.