10. The Art and Science of
Leonardo da Vinci
Books
Jack Wasserman, Leonardo da Vinci, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (2003), ISBN 0-8109-9130-6
Sean will also provide a compendium with selections from Leonardo’s Notebooks and key essays on the artist.
Download it here (pdf 3.3 MB)
Program Description
Newton was a great scientist and Rembrandt, a great artist.
Like them, most of us tend to be predominantly left-brained or right-brained. Leonardo da Vinci was both, a true Renaissance Man: painter, scientist, and philosopher. Few have been able
to so seamlessly meld logic and intuition, discovery and creativity. Leonardo’s paintings, with their sfumato (soft smoky transitions) and chiaroscuro (contrast between light and dark), changed the course of art history. And da Vinci drew incessantly:
prancing horses, grimacing old men, serene Madonnas, and spiraling storms. His Notebooks, written in cryptic mirror script, cover topics as diverse as geometry, botany, optics, engineering, anatomy, astronomy, painting and music. No wonder Kenneth Clark called Leonardo ‘The most relentlessly curious man
in history.’
In this seminar we will explore the mysterious beauty of da Vinci’s art by discussing his drawings and paintings. We will follow his quest to uncover the secrets of nature by reading excerpts from his Notebooks. Hopefully, we will leave with a deeper appreciation of Leonardo’s multifaceted genius. We may even find his holistic mind a source of inspiration in a world where the sciences and humanities are becoming increasingly isolated.
Discussion Leader
Sean Forester is a painter and poet living in Florence, Italy. He studied at the St. John’s College Great Books Program and at Cambridge University. Sean teaches art history at the Florence Academy of Art and has a long-standing fascination with Leonardo.
