Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered

A vast project spanning more than 1m words and 1,500 images . . . Bambach's numerous discoveries include a small drapery study in the Royal Collection, where it was described as from Leonardo's workshop. -Dalya Alberge, Guardian awesomely ambitious -Holland Cotter, New York Times A project nearly a quarter-century in the making, this monograph attempts to provide a comprehensive revisiting of the man so many know only as the painter of the 'Mona Lisa' and the 'Last Supper.' -Lauren Christensen, New York Times Book Review This outstanding work for Leonardo's quincentenary is riveting. Across four sumptuous, scholarly volumes Bambach takes a fresh biographical approach, exploring especially through drawings and handwriting how Leonardo visualised knowledge in a new way. She humanises genius by showing the gap between his mysterious visions and staggering achievements. -Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times The outstanding memorial to Leonardo's quincentenary year: a new biographical approach across four riveting exquisite volumes, exploring through paintings, drawings, diagrams, handwriting, Leonardo's attempt to visualise knowledge in a fresh way, and his sense of the gap between his mysterious imaginings and his intellectual and artistic achievements - Financial Times (Books of the Year 2019) Bambach's four-volume account of the artist's life and work is a feat of research and interpretation that has taken a quarter of a century to produce. As well as poring over Leonardo's drawings, paintings, and writings, Bambach considers the relevant scholarship and recent technical evidence - Apollo Magazine In the case of 2019, there is no question about the most substantial commemoration of the year, with Carmen C Bambach's toweringly authoritative four-volume Leonardo da Vinci Rediscoveredstanding head and shoulders above any of its rivals -David Ekserdjian, Evening Standard [. . .] Because only about a dozen surviving paintings are now generally accepted, the notebooks and drawings provide the main insight into [Leonardo's] personality and development as an artist. But they also present formidable problems of dating, attribution and purpose, which are at the heart of Carmen Bambach's massive and extraordinarily impressive scrutiny -Charles Hope, London Review of Books