 | |
| Author | Charles Nicholl |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Publisher | Viking Adult |
Publication date | 18 November 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 640 (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-670-03345-6 (Hardcover) |
| OCLC | 56334378 |
| 709/.2 B 22 | |
| LC Class | N6923.L33 N52 2004 |
Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind is a 2004 biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Charles Nicholl.
The book researches the life of Leonardo da Vinci in Tuscane and explores the reasons of his historic success. [1] [2] The author's main observation is that most of Leonardo's work was unfinished. Through a thorough research, the author dismisses most of the romanticized facts about da Vinci and concludes that a lot is unknown about the genius inventor. [3] Leonardo is described as an engineer obsessed with natural designs. [4] Washington Post writer Alexander Nagel criticized Nicholl's technical analysis of the inventor's paintings that lack insight and misses an opportunity to push deeper into the mind of Leonardo. [5]
The author retranslates many of Leonardo's mirrorscript writings. [6] Some guesswork is admittedly thrown in this biography: [2] an old woman visiting Leonardo in 1493 becomes his mother; Freudian concepts are used to explain his probable homosexuality (Joseph missing from his representations of the Holy Family); His stay in jail is linked to his plans to reverse engineer locks... [7] The author also argues that Leonardo's obsession with flying devices comes from his alchemical quest for a levitation technology. [5]
David Gelernter criticized his interpretations around the hypothetical encounter of Michelangelo and Leonardo. [4]
The release of Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind coincided with the release of another Leonardo biography, Leonardo by Martin Kemp. [8]
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. The Mona Lisa is the most famous of his works and the most famous portrait ever made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. He is also known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on science and invention; these involve a variety of subjects including anatomy, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo's collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary Michelangelo.
Arsène Houssaye was a French novelist, poet and man of letters.
The Codex Leicester is a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex is named after Thomas Coke, later credited to Earl of Leicester, who purchased it in 1719. The manuscript currently holds the record for the second highest sale price of any book, as it was sold to Bill Gates at Christie's auction house on 11 November 1994 in New York for US$30,802,500
Francesco Melzi, or Francesco de Melzi (1491–1570), was an Italian painter born into a family of the Milanese nobility in Lombardy. He was one of Leonardo da Vinci’s pupils.
Walter Isaacson is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, and the editor of Time.
Michael J. Gelb is an American non-fiction author, executive coach and management consultant. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Humanistic Management and member of the Advisory Board for Leading People and Organizations at the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business. He is also a Batten Institute Research Fellow at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business.
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter and polymath who achieved legendary fame and iconic status within his own lifetime. His renown primarily rests upon his brilliant achievements as a painter, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, being two of the most famous artworks ever created, but also upon his diverse skills as a scientist and inventor. He became so highly valued during his lifetime that the King of France bore him home like a trophy of war, supported him in his old age and, according to legend, cradled his head as he died.
Martin John Kemp is an art historian and exhibition curator who is one of the world's leading authorities on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci and visualisation in art and science. Since 2008 he has been emeritus professor of art history at the University of Oxford, prior to which he was a professor of Art History there (1995–2008) and he has held posts at University of St Andrews (1981–1995) and University of Glasgow (1966–1981). He is a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, an honorary Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy. Instrumental in the authentication of Salvator Mundi to Leonardo, Kemp is very vocal on attributions to Leonardo, including support of La Bella Principessa and opposition of the Isleworth Mona Lisa.
The personal life of Leonardo da Vinci has been a subject of interest, inquiry, and speculation since the years immediately following his death. Leonardo has long been regarded as the archetypal Renaissance man, described by the Renaissance biographer Giorgio Vasari as having qualities that "transcended nature" and being "marvellously endowed with beauty, grace and talent in abundance". Interest in and curiosity about Leonardo has continued unabated for five hundred years. Modern descriptions and analysis of Leonardo's character, personal desires and intimate behavior have been based upon various sources: records concerning him, his biographies, his own written journals, his paintings, his drawings, his associates, and commentaries that were made concerning him by contemporaries.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian polymath, regarded as the epitome of the "Renaissance Man", displaying skills in numerous diverse areas of study. Whilst most famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, Leonardo is also renowned in the fields of civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics, and zoology.
Codex on the Flight of Birds is a relatively short codex from c. 1505 by Leonardo da Vinci. It comprises 18 folios and measures 21 × 15 centimetres. Now held at the Royal Library of Turin, the codex begins with an examination of the flight behavior of birds and proposes mechanisms for flight by machines. Leonardo constructed a number of these machines, and attempted to launch them from a hill near Florence. However, his efforts failed.
Mario Taddei is an Italian academic, and technical director and chief researcher at the Italian study center Leonardo3 in Milan. He is an expert in multimedia and edutainment for museums, a Leonardo da Vinci devotee and scholar, and an expert in the codexes and machines of da Vinci and ancient books of technology.
Leonardo's Horse is a sculpture that was commissioned of Leonardo da Vinci in 1482 by Duke of Milan Ludovico il Moro, but not completed. It was intended to be the largest equestrian statue in the world, a monument to the duke's father Francesco Sforza. Leonardo did extensive preparatory work for it but produced only a clay model, which was later destroyed.
Charles Nicholl is an English author specializing in works of history, biography, literary detection, and travel. His subjects have included Christopher Marlowe, Arthur Rimbaud, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Nashe and William Shakespeare. Besides his literary output, Nicholl has also presented documentary programmes on television. In 1974 he was the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer Award for his account of an LSD trip entitled 'The Ups and The Downs'.
The portrait of a man in red chalk in the Royal Library of Turin is widely, though not universally, accepted as a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci drew this self-portrait at about the age of 60. The portrait has been extensively reproduced and has become an iconic representation of Leonardo as a polymath or "Renaissance Man". Despite this, some historians and scholars disagree as to the true identity of the sitter.
Da Vinci's Demons is a historical fantasy drama series that presents a fictional account of Leonardo da Vinci's early life. The series was conceived by David S. Goyer and stars Tom Riley in the title role. It was developed and produced in collaboration with BBC Worldwide and was shot in Wales. The series has been distributed to over 120 countries.
Salvator Mundi is a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci dated to c. 1500. Long thought to be a copy of a lost original veiled with overpainting, it was rediscovered, restored, and included in a major Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, London, in 2011–12. Christie's claimed just after selling the work that most leading scholars consider it to be an original work by Leonardo, but this attribution has been disputed by other specialists, some of whom posit that he only contributed certain elements.
Leonardo da Vinci is a 1996 children's biography by Diane Stanley. The book looks at da Vinci's life and accomplishments.
The House of Da Vinci is a 2017 puzzle adventure game developed by Slovak indie studio Blue Brain Games. The game is based on fictional events that occurred during the Renaissance. The game is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Turkish, Italian, Polish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Hindi and Malay.
Tommaso di Giovanni Masini, known as Zoroaster Da Peretola, was a friend and collaborator of Leonardo Da Vinci.