[ePub] Becoming Leonardo: An Exploded View of the Life of Leonardo da Vinci by Mike Lankford at Arts-Photography

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Irreverent. Informal. InsightfulBy John D. CofieldLeonardo da Vincis aura is so overwhelming that it makes sense to believe that his life has been thoroughly documented. that his every step. word. and thought are known. and that his artistic output must be enormous. Actually. as Mike Lankford makes clear in his fascinating new biography. far less is known about Leonardo than most of his fellow Renaissance artists. and much of what is known is debatable and liable to misinterpretation.In bringing Leonardo to life Lankford also recreates the Renaissance as it really was: a violent. dirty place rank with bad smells and disease. where conquering armies stood ready to upend society by overthrowing one tyrant and replacing him with another. Far from being the universally recognized and admired genius we know today. Leonardo spent much of his life in the shadows. wisely lying low when epidemics and warfare grew too close for comfort. departing one city for another when danger loomed. and seeking income and safety from a variety of patrons whose volatile careers threatened to destroy him more than once. Leonardo bubbled over with ideas and plans. often quickly sketched out or described in his famous mirror writing in a series of notebooks. but unfortunately rarely got around to seeing his ideas come to fruition. He was a notorious perfectionist. keeping some paintings with him for years while abruptly abandoning others. experimenting with new paints and mixtures that often decayed or molded. and always highly distractable. unable to focus on any of the twenty or thirty tasks he seemed to have on hand at any one time.Lankford uses a modern vernacular which is informal and often irreverent. superb for conveying the full flavor of Leonardos life and times. He does a superb job of surmising the many missing chapters in Leonardos life. including how long he must have spent in jail on a sodomy charge. or how he must have reacted to the many wars that raged across Renaissance Italy. or indeed what it was like to actually be Leonardo: bewhiskered. sometimes brightly dressed but more often shabby. his sexuality a matter for speculation then and now. in turns arrogant. haughty. or humble until finally. at the (then advanced) age of 64. he finally wore himself out.There are more scholarly and more thoroughly documented biographies of Leonardo available. but none will bring him to life so well as Becoming Leonardo.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Bringing Leonardo To LifeBy JayByrdUnless you are an art history major. Leonardo daVinci may not be someone whose life sounds exciting. Wrong! Author Mike Lankford explores the world the artist lived in realistic detail and with a passion for the genius of the man.his work. and the fascinating people who entered his life and sponsored his work. This non-fiction reads like a novel and one you cant put down. If more biographies were written in such an articulate and engaging style more young people would enjoy history. I highly recommend this book for a fresh look at an old master as well as an engaging. thought provoking read.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The Weird Weed of CreativityBy Starved for ItAs a reader previously unfamiliar with Leonardos life. I found this a breezy. almost gossipy introduction to both the artist and Renaissance Italy. Mr. Lankford takes his subject seriously but not himself. and its a refreshing approach. This is a colorful. informative book about a fascinating man. Because this was life lived mostly in obscurity five hundred years ago there are a lot of blanks to fill in. and Lankford. in doing this very imaginatively also takes the reader through a rumination on the creative process.