Leonardo and the Last Supper - Softcover

King, Ross

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1620403080 ISBN 13: 9781620403082

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2013

Synopsis

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began what would become one of history's most influential works of art-The Last Supper. After a decade at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point: at forty-three, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise. His latest failure was a giant bronze horse to honor Sforza's father, made with material expropriated by the military. The commission to paint The Last Supper was a small compensation, and his odds of completing it weren't promising: he hadn't worked on such a large painting and had no experience in the standard mural medium of fresco.

Amid war and the political and religious turmoil around him, and beset by his own insecurities and frustrations, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would forever define him. Ross King unveils dozens of stories that are embedded in the painting, and overturns many of the myths surrounding it. Bringing to life a fascinating period in European history, he presents an original portrait of one of history's greatest geniuses through the lens of his most famous work.

About this title

Review:

[A] richly entertaining tale of how Leonardo came to paint The Last Supper. King, who had previously written acclaimed accounts of Brunelleschi's Florentine dome and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, has an infectious relish for the gaudy, brutal and brilliant world of the Italian Renaissance (The Mail on Sunday)

King draws attention to overlooked iconographic details such as the supper menu, and he profits from the mural's misfortunes in a brilliant history of its afterlife as restorers perform cosmetic surgery on it (The Observer Books of the Year)

King deftly explains how Leonardo developed each element as well as his quirks and those of his patron Ludovico '"il Moro" Sforza. This account is a good deal more vivid than the ghostly fresco itself (The Guardian, Books of the Year)

The story of Leonardo's creation of the work has now found an ideal chronicler in Ross King ... King has the gift of clear, unpretentious exposition, and an instinctive narrative flair (Guardian)

Extraordinary (Sunday Times 'Must Reads')

Enthralling **** (Daily Mail)

Mr. King gives us a gripping account of how that painting was created and how it represents, in his view, one of the few times in Leonardo's life that he managed to "harness and concentrate his relentless energies and restless obsessions" ... King deftly deconstructs the ways the painter broke with tradition and stamped a familiar and much depicted subject with his distinctive vision (Michiko Kakutani, International Herald Tribune)

King writes evenly and engagingly . We learn a great deal about the middle-aged artist, and his persistent fear of failing to complete commissions . King deftly situates both his subject and the immense appeal of the work in our own day ... The book will bring new insights to all who have visited Milan, and will encourage others to make that pilgrimage (Church Times)

Forget Dan Brown's reading of the painting - King shows expertly how perspective and patronage shaped one of the most famous paintings in the world (Sunday Herald)

Book Description:

The Last Supper is an image familiar to everyone, the story of its execution is not. In Leonardo and the Last Supper, the best-selling author of Brunelleschi's Dome tells that extraordinary story

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1620403080
• ISBN 13: 9781620403082
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352