Milan 1496 & forty-four-year-old Leonardo da Vinci has a reputation for taking on commissions & failing to complete them. He is in a state of professional uncertainty & financial difficulty. For eighteen months he has been painting murals in both the Sforza Castle in Milan & the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The latter project will become the Last Supper a complex mural that took a full three years to complete on a surface fifteen feet high by twenty feet wide. Not only had he never attempted a painting of such size but he had no experience whatsoever in painting in the physically demanding medium of fresco. For more than five centuries the Last Supper has been an artistic religious & cultural icon. The art historian Kenneth Clark has called it the keystone of European art & for a century after its creation it was regarded as nothing less than a miraculous image. Even today according to Clark we regard the painting as more a work of nature than a work of man. & yet there is a very human story behind this artistic miracle which was created against the backdrop of momentous events both in Milan & in the life of Leonardo himself. In Leonardo & the Last Supper Ross King tells the complete story of this creation of this mural: the adversities suffered by the artist during its execution; the experimental techniques he employed; the models for Christ & the Apostles that he used; & the numerous personalities involved
- everyone from the Leonardos young assistants to Ludovico Sforza the Duke of Milan who commissioned the work. Ross Kings new book is both a record of Leonardo da Vincis last five years in Milan & a biography of one of the most famous works of art ever painted.
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Leonardo Da Vinci is considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time & perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived responsible for the Mona Lisa The Last Supper The Madonna of the Carnation & Vitruvian Man. Leonardo was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter sculptor architect musician scientist mathematician engineer inventor anatomist geologist cartographer botanist & writer & this captivating book provides the reader with a unique insight into the life & work of one of history's most intriguing figures. All of Leonardo Da Vinci's work is presented in this compact volume
- from his paintings & frescos to detailed reproductions of his remarkable encrypted notebooks. As well as featuring each individual artwork sections of each are shown in isolation to reveal incredible details
- for example the different levels of perspective between the background sections of the Mona Lisa & the disembodied hand in The Last Supper. 640 pages of colour artworks & photographs of Da Vinci's original notebooks accompanied by fascinating biographical & historical details are here.

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Da Vinci in detail: Leonardos life & work
- the definitive edition. All pictures all drawings! Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) possessed
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Leonardo is the greatest most multi-faceted & most mysterious of all Renaissance artists but extraordinarily considering his enormous reputation this is the first full-length biography in English for several decades. Prize-winning author Charles Nicholl has immersed himself for five years in all the manuscripts paintings & artefacts to produce an intimate portrait of Leonardo. He uses these contemporary materials
- his notebooks & sketchbooks eye witnesses & early biographies etc
- as a way into the mental tone & physical texture of his life & has made myriad small discoveries about him & his work & his circle of associates. Among much else the book identifies what Nicholl argues is an unknown portrait of the artist hanging in a church near Lodi in northern Italy. It also contains new material on his eccentric assistant Tomasso Masini on his homosexual affairs in Florence & on his curious relationship with a female model and/or prostitute from Cremona. A masterpiece of modern biography.

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) possessed one of the greatest minds of all time; his importance & influence are inestimable. This XXL-format comprehensive survey is the most complete book ever made on the subject of this Italian painter sculptor architect engineer scientist & all-around genius. With huge full-bleed details of Leonardos masterworks this highly original publication allows the reader to inspect the subtlest facets of his brushstrokes. Part I explores Leonardos life & work in ten chapters drawing upon his letters contracts diary entries & writings. All of his paintings are presented & interpreted in depth with The Annunciation & The Last Supper featured on fold-out pages. Part II comprises a catalogue raisonne of Leonardos paintings which covers all of his surviving & lost painted works &

Includes:: texts describing their states of preservation. Each & every painting that can be justifiably attributed to Leonardo is included here; thanks to new findings & scientific research this is the first time his definitive painting oeuvre is being published. Part III contains an extensive catalogue of his drawings (numbering in the thousands they cannot all be reproduced in one book); 663 are presented arranged by category (architecture technical anatomical figures proportion cartography etc). Over half of the drawings included were provided by Windsor Castle marking the first time that the Castle has allowed a publisher to reproduce so many of their drawings. This sumptuous Taschen offering is the most thorough & beautifully produced Leonardo book ever published.

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From the bestselling author of The Snowman
- an explosive new thriller. In the depths of winter a killer stalks the city streets.
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Includes: RECENTLY DISCOVERED NEW MATERIAL In the spring of 1860 Fabrizio the charismatic Prince of Salina still rules
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From the bestselling author of The Snowman
- an explosive new thriller. In the depths of winter a killer stalks the city streets.
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Development of the Leopard 1 can be traced back to November 1956 when the operational requirement for a new battle tank was formulated by the Federal German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). Originally a Franco-German project the tank under design was named the ' Standard-Panzer'. The French later dropped out however & on 1 October 1963 the ' Standard' tank was officially named ' Leopard' an appropriate choice considering Germany's wartime pedigree with the formidable Tiger & Panther. This book traces the development & service record of the Leopard 1 detailing its control systems modifications & variants. ...

Get your one-stop guide for understanding & raising this popular pet lizard. Reptiles are now kept in one out of every seven pet homes so its no surprise that millions have gone gaga for geckos. This fun easy-to-follow guide provides the scoop on caring for these colorful gentle creatures with savvy tips on everything from diet & exercise to housing & veterinary care. The book covers how to properly handle a gecko what to do if a gecko drops his tail how to keep the right cage temperatures ways to protect geckos from other pets & where to find the best supplies. Liz Palika (Oceanside CA) is an award-winning pet writer with more than 45 books to her credit including Turtles & Tortoises For Dummies. ...