For the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death comes an immersive journey through five centuries of history to define the Leonardo mystique and uncover how the elusive Renaissance artist became a global pop icon.

Virtually everyone would agree that Leonardo da Vinci was the most important artist of the High Renaissance. It was Leonardo who single-handedly created the defining features of Western art: a realism based on subtle shading; depth using atmospheric effects; and dramatic contrasts between light and dark.

But how did Leonardo, a painter of very few works who died in obscurity in France, become the internationally renowned icon he is today, with the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper the most visited artworks in the world, attracting nearly a billion visitors each year, and Salvator Mundi selling as the most expensive artwork of all time, for nearly half a billion dollars?

This extraordinary volume, lavishly illustrated with 130 color images, is the first book to unravel these mysteries by diving deep into the art, literature, science, and politics of Europe from the Renaissance through today. It gives illuminating context to both Leonardo and his accomplishments; explores why Leonardo's fame vastly overshadowed that of his contemporaries and disciples; and ultimately reveals why despite finishing very few works, his celebrity has survived, even thrived, through five centuries of history.

Author: Jean-Pierre Isbouts, Christopher Heath Brown
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Apollo Publishers
Published: 04/30/2019
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.7lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781948062343


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 05/01/2019 pg. 94

About the Author

Jean-Pierre Isbouts is an art historian and a doctoral professor at Fielding Graduate University. He is the author of nine books, including The Biblical World, In the Footsteps of Jesus, and The Story of Christianity, which have sold nearly 1.3 million copies, and together with Christopher Heath Brown, the coauthor of two prior books on Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa Myth and Young Leonardo. Dr. Isbouts has been on numerous radio and TV shows and is the host of the TV series In Search of Masterpieces. He has directed several programs for Disney, ABC, Hallmark, and the History Channel, working with actors such as Leonard Nimoy, Charlton Heston, Dick van Dyke, and Morgan Freeman, and produced recordings with orchestras around the world. His accomplishments in the art world include being credited with the discovery that a copy of Leonardo's Last Supper in a convent in Belgium was actually painted by Leonardo and his workshop. Dr. Isbouts lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Christopher Heath Brown is a practicing oral and maxillofacial surgeon who has presented and published to both national and international audiences, as well as an art collector and the director of Brown Discoveries, a research institute focused on Renaissance, Surrealist, and Contemporary art. Together with Dr. Isbouts, Dr. Brown produced The Search for the Last Supper and The Search for the Mona Lisa for Public Television. Dr. Brown lives in Cornelius, NC.