Leonardo DaVinci by Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson's well researched book on Leonardo da Vinci reviews the life of this inquisitive artist, engineer, and theatrical designer. During my book club's discussion, we agreed that he needed a partner to help finish all of the unfinished projects he started. He had great plans to publish many of his findings but rarely followed through on these plans. He was much more interested in discovery and less interested in the time consuming process of publishing the results of his study.

He wanted to be an engineer more than a painter. He worked to put on various theatrical productions with engineered special effects that do not survive. His fascination with military engineering abated after he traveled with a military mission.

Leonardo was the ultimate acute observer of nature. He applied this knowledge to the few paintings that he produced in his life time.  The geology and plants are accurate and the muscle movement in the pictures was informed by his meticulous notes taken large number of postmortem examinations. 

Information from Leonardo's note books inform a large potion of the narrative as with his carefully measured man below. The line drawings in his notes are worth framing. Some of his work suffered from lack of formal training. This lack of training also allowed him to see and observe without the cloud of orthodoxy which prevented trained individuals from accurately observing life.

Davinci's Man - Wikimedia

The book covers each of his major painting and some paintings and sculptures that never were finished. The discussion comparing his painting technique to his rival Michelangelo is enlightening.

Walter Isaacson - Accessible Genius - 5 min. 

Bill Gates on Davinci - 2 min. 

Book talk on DaVinci with Walter Isaacson - 72 min.