A Treatise on Painting

By Leonardo da Vinci, P M Gault De Saint-Germain, Leon Battista Alberti

Book Overview

Leonardo da Vinci's written observations about painting rank among the most remarkable from any era. Never edited by the author himself into a single coherent book, these writings were compiled many years after Leonardo's death into the principal repository of his practical thoughts on the techniques of drawing and painting. A Treatise on Painting begins with precise instructions on drawing the human body and then moves on to techniques of rendering motion. Other topics include perspective, composition, the expression of various emotions, creating effects of light and shadow, and color. With 48 anatomical drawings by Nicholas Poussin and geometrical and architectural designs by Leon Battista Alberti, this famous volume remains one of the world's most useful and valuable art instruction books.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486441555
• ISBN13: 9780486441559
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Very nice to read

This book contains an collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci. It functions as a reconstruction of da Vinci's views on (the making of) art, since he planned to write a comprehensive treatise on the subject but never did. What I did miss, though, is an introduction that offers some historical background information on da Vinci and the art theory of his days, to put the whole thing into context. Either way, the book is a very nice addition to any art historical library (right next to Alberti's and Cennini's treatises)