Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman

New York and New Haven, CT: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2003. xiv, 786 pages, illustrations (some colour); 29 cm. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, January 22 to March 30, 2003. With contributions by Carmen C. Bambach, Alessandro Cecchi, Claire farago, Varena Forcione, Martin Kemp, Anne-Marie Logan, Pietro C. Marani, Carlo Pedretti, Carlo Vecce, Francoise Viatte and Linda Wolk-Simon; with the assistance of Rachel Stern and Alison Manges. Firm binding, clean inside copy. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by arrangement. Richly illustrated with colour plates. "Leonardo da Vinci (Italian [Florentine], 1452-1519) stands as a supreme icon in Western consciousness--the very embodiment of the universal Renaissance genius. With much of his work lost or unfinished, the key to his legacy can be found in the enormous body of his extant drawings and manuscript notes. This publication offers a unified and fascinating portrait of Leonardo as a draftsman, integrating his diverse roles as an artist, scientist, inventor, theorist, and teacher. Essays written by the world's leading Leonardo scholars investigate the significant implications of Leonardo's left-handedness both for the connoisseurship of his drawings and for a reconstruction of his artistic personality; the relationship between word and image in Leonardo's drawings and manuscripts; problems of attribution and authenticity in the critical evaluation of Leonardo's graphic oeuvre; Leonardo's early drapery studies; the role of the artist's father; and the special role of drawn frames or boundaries in Leonardo's design process. Detailed descriptions of 138 individual works survey the wide variety of drawing types that Leonardo used, and also include a small group of works by artists critical to his artistic development in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan. A chronological framework is also provided to shed light on his extraordinary life and career." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Introduction to Leonardo and his drawings; Leonardo, left-handed draftsman and writer; Word and image in Leonardo's writings; The critical fortune of Leonardo's drawings; The early drapery studies; New light on Leonardo's Florentine patrons; Drawing the boundaries; Leonardo's drawings in Milan and their influence on the graphic work of Milanese artists; The Codex Leicester; Leonardo's grotesques: originals and copies; Documented chronology of Leonardo's life and work.. 1st. Paperback. Fine. 4to.