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kimball_hansen's review against another edition
3.0
This book had so much detail about the history and life of not only Leonardo but many other people in that era. It was as if the author personally went back in time and wrote everything down first-hand. Very well done.
It's interesting how many of the artists and arts people were more gay at that time because of infatuation with the human body (The Vitruvian Man) and also by only associating with males. Seems to me like Society influences one's Beepual Orientation. Similarly to how there are a lot more gays nowadays since it is more widely acceptable. Einstein said that reality is merely an illusion. I would amend that and say that reality is an illusion and a product of society.
The parts about public dissections was wild. Imagine if today you could just view a public dissection of the human body. I wonder how that would affect a person/society. Would it make a person more or less desensitized to another? By seeing a corpse and examining it cut up and viewing all the entrails and innards would that make a person hardened and easier to commit murder? Or would it have the reverse effect and make a person more appreciative of human life by being aware of someone other than themselves and therefore be less likely to commit acts of murder to help solve the problem of violence in the world. All good questions.
It's interesting how many of the artists and arts people were more gay at that time because of infatuation with the human body (The Vitruvian Man) and also by only associating with males. Seems to me like Society influences one's Beepual Orientation. Similarly to how there are a lot more gays nowadays since it is more widely acceptable. Einstein said that reality is merely an illusion. I would amend that and say that reality is an illusion and a product of society.
The parts about public dissections was wild. Imagine if today you could just view a public dissection of the human body. I wonder how that would affect a person/society. Would it make a person more or less desensitized to another? By seeing a corpse and examining it cut up and viewing all the entrails and innards would that make a person hardened and easier to commit murder? Or would it have the reverse effect and make a person more appreciative of human life by being aware of someone other than themselves and therefore be less likely to commit acts of murder to help solve the problem of violence in the world. All good questions.
_sparrow_hawk's review against another edition
3.0
An okay read but disappointing after Lester's Fourth Part of the World, which also took one famous document, The Waldseemuller world map, and created a book with a wonderfully broad and interesting scope of cartography, science and history. This book was half as long and not even half as interesting.
govmarley's review against another edition
3.0
Not what I was expecting, but good. We just saw the exhibit at the Venetian and I wanted to learn more about him.
An interesting look into the history of the Vitruvian Man, Leonardo's life, and some of his methods. He had such an interesting, varied mind, and his greatness often got in the way of his successes. His journals show a glimpse into how his fascinating imagination led to designs of inventions, ideas, and great works of art.
Read this if you want to learn more about Leonardo, but don't let this be your only source about him.
An interesting look into the history of the Vitruvian Man, Leonardo's life, and some of his methods. He had such an interesting, varied mind, and his greatness often got in the way of his successes. His journals show a glimpse into how his fascinating imagination led to designs of inventions, ideas, and great works of art.
Read this if you want to learn more about Leonardo, but don't let this be your only source about him.
thenicolelee's review against another edition
4.0
Read this for a paper I had to write for my Humanities class. Pretty well stocked with interesting information, I referenced this book quite a bit.
wanderinglynn's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
I guess my expectations were too high going into this book. The book's preface made me excited to read it. But I quickly lost interest. What I had expected was an interesting dive into Leonardo Da Vinci, arguably one of the greatest polymaths and geniuses of the Italian Renaissance, and his work, the Vitruvian Man. Instead, I found ramblings and constant asides on European history, art, architecture, religion, and literature. Interesting? At times, yes. I even flagged things to do further research into. But those tidbits were not why I picked up this book.
The parts about the actual topic, Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, make up maybe a fourth of this book. The book is only 227 pages long (not counting the extensive notes, bibliography, suggestions, permissions/credits, and index, which push the book out to 275 pages). The chapters on Leonardo's life have sections discussing history, art, architecture, etc., and not always clearly focused on Leonardo. It isn't until page 197 that we, at last, get to the main subject of the book—Leonardo's Vitruvian Man.
The parts about the actual topic, Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, make up maybe a fourth of this book. The book is only 227 pages long (not counting the extensive notes, bibliography, suggestions, permissions/credits, and index, which push the book out to 275 pages). The chapters on Leonardo's life have sections discussing history, art, architecture, etc., and not always clearly focused on Leonardo. It isn't until page 197 that we, at last, get to the main subject of the book—Leonardo's Vitruvian Man.
Which brings us, at last, to Virtruvian Man.
The main problem is that there wasn't enough material on Leonardo and his Vitruvian Man to justify an entire book. If Lester was a more engaging writer, then maybe the book would work better. But as written, the book lacked cohesion. I felt it was a confusing stream of disjointed parts with no coherent focus and too much conjecture and supposition.
jgolomb's review against another edition
4.0
The drawing is well known, if not universally recognized (and I mean universal in the literal sense). Leonardo DaVinci’s print of the human male figure, arms and legs outstretched, touching both a square and a circle drawn within the square, can be found on t-shirts and mousepads, corporate logos, as well as parodies including The Simpsons. It’s on the €1 Euro coin, but perhaps most impressively, it’s been launced into space on several long distance and very long term missions.
It’s called “Vitruvian Man”, and among Leonardo’s eclectically vast tableau of work it remains one of his most enigmatic pieces. Author Toby Lester delves deeply into this single DaVinci masterpiece to expose its roots, its meanings and its lasting impressions.
Lester provides insight into the genesis of this work which currently resides at the Accademia Gallery in Venice, though it’s not currently on display. The name comes from the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius: “Writing at the dawn of the Roman imperial age, Virtuvius proposed that a man can be made to fit inside a circle and a square, and some fifteen hundred years later Leonardo gave that idea memorable visual form. But there’s much more to the story than that. Vitruvius had described his figure in an architectural context, insisting that the proportions of sacred temples should conform to the proportions of the idea human body – the design of which, he believed, conformed to the hidden geometry of the universe.”
Lester identifies some seriously heavy metaphysical connotations of the drawing as well, and the concept that it engenders. “The circle represented the cosmic and the divine; the square represented the earthly and the secular. Anybody proposing that a man could be made to fit inside both shapes was therefore making an age-old metaphysical statement. It was the world, in miniature.”
He continues, “It’s an idealized self-portrait in which Leonardo, stripped down to his essence, takes his own measure, and in doing so embodies a timeless human hope: that we must might have the power of mind to figure out how we fit into the grand scheme of things.”
Leonardo’s Virtuvian Man is estimated to be drawn in about 1490, but it’s just a guess since he didn’t date the work. The timing fits in with the style of draftsmanship, kinds of paper and pen he used, and even his handwriting of the time. Most importantly, it would place the work during “the very period in his career when he was immersed in his intensive study of human proportions and had a special interest in comparing his own measurements to those listed in Virtruvius’ work," wrote Lester.
Leonardo spent many years examining the human body in great detail, and he left numerous drawings based on his first-hand anatomical dissections. He started to make specific connections between the human body and architecture, which one can see creep into his notebook doodlings in the 1480s.
Vitruvius provided specific measurements of the idealized male form and these measurements act as a starting point for Leonardo’s work. Leonardo expands and improves upon the original description. Lester writes that DaVinci “corrected previous interpretations of an ancient text…to capture the essential message of (Vitruvius): that the human form embodied the natural harmonies present in the circle and the square.”
And the face upon the Vitruvian man is likely Leonardo’s self-portrait as well.
The book includes detailed notes and a plethora of images, taking advantage, in the digital form, to link seamlessly back and forth from the various reference points within the ebook edition.
Lester’s book is a good read. It’s most successful, in my opinion, in its details surrounding Leonardo the man, his motivations, and the outline of his career. It fails, however, in its dubious connections presumed by author Lester, based upon an unfortunately incomplete record and circumstantial evidence. Leonardo spent some time with individuals that had their own connections with Vitruvius' work, and he had access to many historical works with various ties to the ancient work as well. Lester sometimes acknowledges that it’s “impossible to say”, for example, how much of certain concepts Leonardo was able to absorb by reading, but too often relies on ideas that Leonardo 'must have' read this, or 'likely' spoke to someone about that.
I enjoyed this book. Lester does a nice job writing readable history. The concepts are, at times, tough to wrap ones arms around, and Lester does well in providing just enough background and context to make things attainable.
It’s called “Vitruvian Man”, and among Leonardo’s eclectically vast tableau of work it remains one of his most enigmatic pieces. Author Toby Lester delves deeply into this single DaVinci masterpiece to expose its roots, its meanings and its lasting impressions.
Lester provides insight into the genesis of this work which currently resides at the Accademia Gallery in Venice, though it’s not currently on display. The name comes from the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius: “Writing at the dawn of the Roman imperial age, Virtuvius proposed that a man can be made to fit inside a circle and a square, and some fifteen hundred years later Leonardo gave that idea memorable visual form. But there’s much more to the story than that. Vitruvius had described his figure in an architectural context, insisting that the proportions of sacred temples should conform to the proportions of the idea human body – the design of which, he believed, conformed to the hidden geometry of the universe.”
Lester identifies some seriously heavy metaphysical connotations of the drawing as well, and the concept that it engenders. “The circle represented the cosmic and the divine; the square represented the earthly and the secular. Anybody proposing that a man could be made to fit inside both shapes was therefore making an age-old metaphysical statement. It was the world, in miniature.”
He continues, “It’s an idealized self-portrait in which Leonardo, stripped down to his essence, takes his own measure, and in doing so embodies a timeless human hope: that we must might have the power of mind to figure out how we fit into the grand scheme of things.”
Leonardo’s Virtuvian Man is estimated to be drawn in about 1490, but it’s just a guess since he didn’t date the work. The timing fits in with the style of draftsmanship, kinds of paper and pen he used, and even his handwriting of the time. Most importantly, it would place the work during “the very period in his career when he was immersed in his intensive study of human proportions and had a special interest in comparing his own measurements to those listed in Virtruvius’ work," wrote Lester.
Leonardo spent many years examining the human body in great detail, and he left numerous drawings based on his first-hand anatomical dissections. He started to make specific connections between the human body and architecture, which one can see creep into his notebook doodlings in the 1480s.
Vitruvius provided specific measurements of the idealized male form and these measurements act as a starting point for Leonardo’s work. Leonardo expands and improves upon the original description. Lester writes that DaVinci “corrected previous interpretations of an ancient text…to capture the essential message of (Vitruvius): that the human form embodied the natural harmonies present in the circle and the square.”
And the face upon the Vitruvian man is likely Leonardo’s self-portrait as well.
The book includes detailed notes and a plethora of images, taking advantage, in the digital form, to link seamlessly back and forth from the various reference points within the ebook edition.
Lester’s book is a good read. It’s most successful, in my opinion, in its details surrounding Leonardo the man, his motivations, and the outline of his career. It fails, however, in its dubious connections presumed by author Lester, based upon an unfortunately incomplete record and circumstantial evidence. Leonardo spent some time with individuals that had their own connections with Vitruvius' work, and he had access to many historical works with various ties to the ancient work as well. Lester sometimes acknowledges that it’s “impossible to say”, for example, how much of certain concepts Leonardo was able to absorb by reading, but too often relies on ideas that Leonardo 'must have' read this, or 'likely' spoke to someone about that.
I enjoyed this book. Lester does a nice job writing readable history. The concepts are, at times, tough to wrap ones arms around, and Lester does well in providing just enough background and context to make things attainable.
aviweiss's review against another edition
4.0
I happened to like this book a lot because Leonardo just fascinates me to no end, but it was a tad to drawn out, hence the 4 stars.
Oh, and BTW if you're looking for a conspiracy theory book like The DaVinci Code etc, this isn't your book. This is just regular, fascinating, TRUE historical fact. OK, and a little conjecture here and there. But no Dan Brown sensationalism here.
Oh, and BTW if you're looking for a conspiracy theory book like The DaVinci Code etc, this isn't your book. This is just regular, fascinating, TRUE historical fact. OK, and a little conjecture here and there. But no Dan Brown sensationalism here.
theartolater's review against another edition
4.0
Random thoughts on Da Vinci's Ghost, a book about the creation of the Vitruvian Man, the iconic image created by Leonardo da Vinci and replicated on pretty much everything :
* I don't know nearly enough about Leonardo da Vinci. I know basics, but felt somewhat lost with a lot of what was going on here.
* With that said, this is surprisingly informative and appears to be well-researched for a book that reads as if it has a general audience in mind, so that was good.
Really, I'm always happy to have some of my knowledge gaps exposed, and this filled one of them quite well. I got a lot out of this, even if it was slow goings from time to time, and I do want to spend more time w/da Vinci now, if only to get a broader outlook. Still, definitely worth your time if you're looking for something short about something you might not have thought too much about.
* I don't know nearly enough about Leonardo da Vinci. I know basics, but felt somewhat lost with a lot of what was going on here.
* With that said, this is surprisingly informative and appears to be well-researched for a book that reads as if it has a general audience in mind, so that was good.
Really, I'm always happy to have some of my knowledge gaps exposed, and this filled one of them quite well. I got a lot out of this, even if it was slow goings from time to time, and I do want to spend more time w/da Vinci now, if only to get a broader outlook. Still, definitely worth your time if you're looking for something short about something you might not have thought too much about.