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Throughout his life Leonardo da Vinci carried notebooks in which he scribbled down ideas and opinions as they occurred - personal, domestic, scientific, philosophical, artistic - frequently accompanied by explanatory sketches and diagrams. Surviving manuscripts contain drafts of letters, fanciful fables, rough treatises on the art of painting or the power of water, descriptions of the Medici courts, even jokes. The present selection gives coherence to this rich kaleidoscope of ideas. From it emerges the portrait of a true Renaissance man, whose habit of rigorous enquiry, observation, and experiment, grounded on a philosophic system, led him to conceive of the universe as an organized cosmos corresponding to a work of art
The second volume contains writings on sculpture, architecture (plans for towns, streets, and canals, churches, palaces, castles, and villas, theoretical writings on arches, domes, fissures, etc.), zoology, physiology (including his amazingly accurate theories of blood circulation), medicine, astronomy, geography (including has famous writings and drawings on the movement of water), topography (observations in Italy, France, and other areas), naval warfare, swimming, theory of flying machines, mining, music, and other topics.
A selection of philosophical maxims, morals, polemics, fables, jests, studies in the lives and habits of animals, tales, and prophecies display Leonardo's abilities as a writer and scholar. The second volume also contains some letters, personal records, inventories, and accounts, and concludes with Leonardo's will. The drawings include sketches and studies for some of Leonardo's greatest works of art The Last Supper, the lost Battle of Anghiari, The Virgin of the Rocks, and the destroyed Sforza monument.
Would recommend this one out of the 2 volumes, unless you want to read a WHOLE lot about the technicalities of painting. Volume 2 is more reflective of his vast curiosity.
