Leonardo da Vinci: an introduction to the
artist's life and work by
Anthony Mason (1993), is one of a series called “Famous Artists” (copyright
Aladdin Books Limited). This slim paper back is dense with text and
illustrations. There are twelve chapters about the artist’s life. The final few
pages have a chronology of his life, a brief history of art, museums and
galleries, glossary, index of text, and index of pictures. This is a glorious
introduction to a world-famous artist. Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519
and “was famous even in his own lifetime as a man of great brilliance and one
of Elise most gifted painters.“
Each chapter includes a story of the artist's life, a painting, an
enlargement of part of the painting, and a practical project to try. For example,
in the first chapter, we learned that Leonardo was born in the small town of
Vinci, and there is a small map of Italy to indicates the location of Vinci. I
didn’t know that da Vinci was not Leonardo‘s last name! Leonardo was born to an
unwed peasant girl. His father was a wealthy lawyer and landowner from
Florence. From the age of five, Leonardo lived at his biological father’s
house. His father became aware of his
son’s gift, and, when Leonardo was about 15 years old, he was sent to train as
a painter and sculptor with one of the renowned artists of Florence. We see the
“annunciation”, which Leonardo painted in his early twenties, and an
enlargement of the angel Gabriel within this painting. By the early 15th
century artists had discovered linear perspective, and so the project in this
chapter is to try perspective drawing. Perspective drawing is when objects look
smaller the farther away they are.
This book is a
must have for the middle school student seriously interested in the history of
art.
