The accomplished journalist and bestselling author Walter Isaacson has a fascination with genius. How do the brilliant minds throughout history differ from the rest of us? What might they have in common with each other? Walter Isaacson has written biographies of Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs partly to address these questions. The subject of his latest biography is Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo daVinci (1452 - 1519) was the ultimate Rennaissance man not only because he lived during the Italian Rennassance era but because his interests crossed all boundaries. da Vinci is most famous for painting two of the greatest masterpieces in history, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper but Leonardo, as Isaacson tells us, was also fascinated by science and engineering:
"With a passion that was both playful and obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, optics, botany, geology water flows and weaponry ... His scientific explorations informed his art. As he aged, he pursued his scientific inquiries not just to serve his art but out of a joyful instinct to fathom the profound beauties of creation".
Walter Isaacson has done an excellent job researching and writing about da Vinci's life and work. A good portion of the book provides us with an analysis of da Vinci's paintings and his science and engineering experiments. da Vinci spent years for example studying birds and sketching out plans in his notebooks for flying machines. He had plans for diverting rivers, building cities, creating musical instruments, ideas for pagents and plays. He participated in dissections in hospitals which enhanced the real life quality of his paintings. Also because of da Vinci's dissections he is credited with a major scientific breakthrough, how the aortic valve of the heart works, a discovery that scientists today still marvel at. We also have Leonardo da Vinci's legendary notebooks, 7,200 pages of which still survive. He took his notebooks wherever he went, jotting down and drawing ideas, observations, everything he was curious about.
Walter Isaacson tells us about Leonardo's personal life, He was born out of wedlock which is important because had da Vinci's parents married he would have been expected to go into the notary business like generations of da Vinci men before him. But because of his out of wedlock status he was barred from the notary profession and free to pursue whatever career he liked. At age fourteen DaVinci secured an apprenticeship and began working for Andrea del Verrocchio, an artist and engineer, who ran an excellent art school in Florence. Leonardo da Vinci was gay and at age 38 he met his lifelong companion Salai who he loved but their relationship could be stormy. da Vinci was good natured, generous with his friends and he was well liked by many but he could also exasperate his patrons because he had trouble finishing paintings. As to da Vinci's spititual side he had a belief in the beauty and oneness of nature and was a lifelong vegetarian because he didn't think animals should be killed for food.
His great painting of course is the Mona Lisa. Who was the Mona Lisa? Her name was Lisa del Giocondo, the 24 year old wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant who commissioned Leonardo early in his career to paint a portrait of his wife Lisa. Leonardo sensed something in the painting because he never gave it to Frances del Giocondo and instead kept it for himself and continued to work on it throughout his life.
I am glad I read Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and I would heartily recommend this book to those interested in art history, science, innovation, the Italian Rennassance or anyone wanting to know more about one of the greatest minds that ever lived. The illustrations of Leonardo's paintings and sketches throughout this biography are wonderful to look at as well and though none of us can hope to equal da Vinci's genius, it wouldn't hurt to carry around our own notebooks in our travels and write down all the interesting things we observe.
Da Vinci is one of those fascinating figures in history that just get more interesting the more you learn about them. And I love his sketches and paintings. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I knew so little about DaVinci before reading this book. I knew he was a great painter,famous for the Mona Lisa but I am embarrassed to say my knowldge pretty much ended there so reading Isaacson's thorough and interesting biography a real revelation.
DeleteGreat review. I read Walter Isaacson‘s biography of Benjamin Franklin a few years ago. It was very good. He is also a frequent guest on some of the public affairs television shows that I watch.
ReplyDeleteDa Vinci seemed like such a fascinating person. It is astonishing just how gifted and talented he was. Anything that I know about him is more or less through information knowledge. Thus, I would like to read this book.
Thanks Brian, I learned so much from the book. For example DaVinci's great painting the Last Supper is 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. I think you will enjoy the book but not a good idea to get it in kindle form since kindle does not do justice to all of DaVinci's wonderful painting and sketches throughout the book. Walter Isaacson did a great job and so eager to read his bio on Ben Franklin.
DeleteHow interesting that his “lower” status as a child born out of wedlock actually freed him?
ReplyDeleteWhat made you pick this book up? Was it an interest in biography in general or specifically in Leonardo?
Hi Ruthiella,
DeleteI've always been fascinated by the Middle Ages. What started my interest was in the 1970's I saw a BBC drama the Six Wives of Henry VIII but over the years my knowledge about Medieval Europe never extended beyond the Tudor Family so when I learned that Walter Isaacson a writer I respect had chosen DaVinci for his latest biography this was a away to expand my knowledge about Medieval Times.