Leonardo Da Vinci - Bir Ustanın Portresi

by Bruno Nardini, Kemal Atakay (Translator)

Architect and sculptor, painter and engineer, student of anatomy and the life of the Renaissance's versatile genius.

Genres: Biography, Art, Nonfiction, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting and well-written book on Leonardo da Vinci, written by Bruno Nardini. It was written in Italian but the translation was fantastic. I didn't feel like any of the story was lost because of a bad translation.

Nardini states at the beginning of the book that not much is known about Leonardo's life but then finds a great deal of information in not only Leonardo's journals but in the journals of some of the people Leonardo worked with and lived with. There were quite a few gaps in time but the author was able to keep the narrative going without these gaps causing difficulty.

Nardini breaks up the book into 4 sections, each focusing on an important part of Leonardo's life, mostly based on which patron he was with at the time. This also helped the flow of the book tremendously since it made it much easier to keep track of time periods.

I probably knew an average amount of information about Da Vinci before reading this book--he was a fantastic painter, sculptor and inventor, but this book definitely expands that information and makes Leonardo (as Nardini always calls him) into a very human human being. Not only was he brilliant but he was so brilliant that he had difficulty focusing on one project for long and often left a painting or a sculpture undone while he investigated something else that he was interested in. There is an interesting chapter on Nardini's take on the Mona Lisa and what the painting meant to Leonardo. It was also interesting to read Michaelangelo's opinion of Leonardo.

I highly recommend this book for history lovers, Da Vinci lovers and art lovers.

[Elif · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love da Vinci you've got to read this one.

English: https://elifthereader.com/books/leona...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/b...

[Overbooked ✎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always admired Leonardo and been fascinated by both his story and the history period he lived in. This book is heavy on quotes from the maestro notebooks, but it also includes other contemporary primary source references. It often leans on the sentimental, painting a picture of a misunderstood genius with obvious talent but also prone to be taken advantage of. I am not sure that Nardini’s interpretations are reliable in all cases, nonetheless I found it a very good read.

[Alessandro Argenti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abbastanza intrigante. Poco sulle opere e molta ricostruzione, ma tutto sommato non male.

[Georgina Dova · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Leonardo was very intresting especially for someone who wanted to put in order all his magnificent achievements. But in my opinion the most important thing this book could offer is the slight glimpse of his life not only as a master of Rennaisance but as a mere man. Outside the palaces, the churches and the bottegas he was a man suffering in his own way. Curiousity was his starting point, but compassion and a deep knowledge of human nature was a barrier for many of his masterpieces to see the light of creation.
Would it be anachronististic to say that his was beyond his era?

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

An expansive collection of information set in storybook fashion. Although fascinated by Leonardo and appreciative of the author's research, I had a difficult time completing the book. The reading felt choppy and cluttered. Rather than a cover to cover book, this works very nicely as a quick reference.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il libro si è rivelato interessante solo a tratti, l’autore si sofferma troppo, a mio avviso, sulle vicende politiche dell’epoca, perdendo spesso di vista il protagonista e la sua personale storia. Lo stile è essenziale e poco scorrevole. Deludente.

[Nanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could t tell if this was a poorly written book or just poorly translated. But it was extremely difficult to follow and did make sense half the time. I look
Forward to finding a more interesting biography.

[Elizabeth Pyjov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi è piaciuto tanto

[Anna Feakins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed ! It’s always interesting reading about people who have shaped the course of history and the layout of this book made it more story-like and therefore very easy to read.

[Michael Bliss · Rating 2 out of 5]

The style choice, which may have been influenced by this being an English translation made this both hard to follow but an extraordinarily quick read. The ending was better than the middle sections.

[Marko Savić · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually had to force myself to read the whole book. It is kind a historian book. Italy at Leonardo's times was note a nation country yet but rather groups of cities. Leonardo was a genius. Primary he was a painter but he had so many other interest. He was interested in anatomy, he was constructing defence systems he even made diving equipment. In my opinion he was enormously talented researcher. I think he didn't wanted to be just a painter. And luckily the French king recognized his potential a gave him a great place to live and enough money to create whatever he wanted to. I admired that already in those times he was very market oriented. He wasn't waiting for a job to come over to him. He made serious proposition to mayors of the cities he lived in how he could solve some serious problems, for example watering system.

[Fenemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information about Michelangelo's life and the period his lived..

[Kua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il racconto scarsamente coinvolgente e alcune inesattezze sulle opere di Leonardo, di cui una veramente colossale, hanno reso la lettura di questo volumetto poco soddisfacente.

[McODAL · Rating 4 out of 5]

...dile dökülmesi olanaksız içsel trajedisiyle yapayalnız...

[Nureddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are have a lot of interesting info. I most like Leonardo and Michelengelo competition