Frank Zöllner

The first volume of this collection, which deals with Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings, is one which I found surprisingly slim. I fully expected that an artist of Da Vinci's fame would have a large body of work, but in fact the list of paintings attributed definitively to him is not very long at all. According to the author, as well as contemporary sources, Da Vinci was a notoriously slow-working painter and at many points in his life actually gave up the brush entirely to work on other projects. (I fully expect to see a much fuller catalogue of pieces in volume 2, since it has a much lengthier page count than volume 1). That being said, considering the passage of time and the delicate nature of paintings (especially those in tempera, which dissolves quite readily in water), it is likely that some works have been lost - some in fact can be surmised by written records and by copies attributed to the style/composition/studio of Da Vinci. EVen with only a small oeuvre of works to peruse, I was quite impressed by Da VInci's techniques, especially the of layering thin glazes of oil paint and his wonderful compositions. I would not be at all surprised if the contemporary rumours that his master had in fact given up painting in the wake of his pupil's overshadowing talent are true, since Da Vinci was clearly a master (albeit an unwilling one it seems) of his trade.

In comparison to volume 1, the second book in this set is a touch underwhelming. Sure, the presentation is still top-notch, and I was quite impressed by the author’s care to organization (seriously, the amount of messy compilations drives me crazy), but the reproductions seemed a bit off. Maybe I’ve just seen too many false representations of Da Vinci’s work in films, but the quality of the reproductions was obviously affected by poor preservation (blame the ages and non-careful curators) or un-enhanced reproductions. I can’t definitely see how Da Vinci’s talent developed from sketch to superb painting though, as his sketches clearly show an avid student and practitioner of his chosen craft. What was most surprising, considering that the subject of all of his paintings was either religious, portraiture, or battled, was the range of drawings he produced. During the Renaissance, the focus on art production was limited to these three areas (landscape painting hadn’t yet become marketable, much less more graphic/abstract subjects), so it is really no surprise that Leonardo was not able to paint these subjects for commission, yet clearly he had no interest in limiting himself to the modes of his age. Experiments in landscape subjects (utilized innovatively in the background of his paintings, which set him apart from his peers), medical topography (which would become a major subject as medicine advanced), studies of common man (which were in turn harnessed into Biblical scenarios), and mechanical inventions showed his range of mind. If only Leonardo had been born a few centuries later, I am sure that he would have been a great innovator and would have relished the freedoms of the modern world of art, architecture, and mechanical experimentation.… (meer)