Leonardo Da Vinci: an untraceable life

Abstract

"In this book, Campbell examines the strangeness of Leonardo's words and works, and the distinctive premodern world of artisans and thinkers from which he emerged. Far from being a solitary genius living ahead of his time, Leonardo inhabited a vibrant network of artistic, technological, and literary exchange. By investigating the politics and cultural tensions of the era as well as the most recent scholarship on Leonardo's contemporaries, workshop, and writings, Campbell places Leonardo back into the milieu that shaped him and was shaped by him. He shows that it is in the gaps and contradictions of what we know of Leonardo's life that a less familiar and far more historically significant figure appears." -- Adapted from publisher's description.

Contents

Da Vinci worlds -- "Now unmade by time ..." toward an anti-biography of Leonardo da Vinci -- Leonardo and the biographers -- The shape of premodern lives -- Leonardo, Extended.