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Leonardo And The Last Supper (2012)

by Ross King(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

038566608X (ISBN13: 9780385666084)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Bond Street Books

review 1: This is the nonfiction account of Leonardo DaVinci's creation of "The Last Supper'. It included some interesting details, including the process the artist went through to select models as well as the language of the hands of the disciples. It was worth reading just to be able to identify each of the disciples on the fresco on the wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. He completed the mural in 1497, three years after he began the work; the painting began disintegrating 2o years later, slowly disappearing from the wall. I would never have guessed that Leonardo was considered to be unreliable by his patrons, and never seem focused on his paintings. I enjoyed the history of art and religion that formed the backdrop, and King obviously was diligent in ... morehis research. However, I found his previous book, "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" a much more compelling read.
review 2: What did I learn from this book? I learned that Leonardo had some serious follow-through issues. I learned a lot of other things as well, expected things such as a general history of Leonoardo's life and a lot about his Last Supper painting, and less-expected things, such as a history of his patron, Ludovico Sforza and the various battles taking place on the Italian peninsula at this time. Given the title of this book, I could have done with less of the unexpected things. I don't mind that King wanted to place Leonardo in his time, but some of his digressions were long and seemed to relate to Leonardo only geographically. He spent even more time on Ludovico, but most of what he related was again not particularly relevant to Leonardo. It was as if he were trying write their stories in parallel even though there were no parallels between them. Or maybe he just felt the man who commissioned the Last Supper deserved his due. Personally, I would have been happy to forgo a quarter of this book and just stayed focused on the Last Supper, which I did find quite interesting. less

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