Through the Eyes of Leonardo da Vinci: Selected Drawings

by Barrington Barber

From the drawing of the stalk of a lily with a head of flowers, to the well-known "The Proportions of the Human Figure," this volume presents several works culled from the hundreds of drawings that flowed from Leonardo da Vinci's pen and brush. Each work is accompanied by a detailed description to enhance the appreciation of the artist's creation.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Drawing, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Barrington Barber originally worked in advertising and television as designer and art director. Then taught at Ealing Art School. Then practiced as a freelance designer, illustrator, painter at Augustine Studios. He was Head of Art at St James’s Independent Schools. Author and illustrator of Fundamentals of Drawing and about 20 other books for Arcturus Publishing. Now paints, draws and writes about art.

Reviews

[Michelle Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in one sitting. Beautiful insight to his life and some small portion of his work. Each page has a drawing, and then it is written up, next to it. My favourite part of the book is the Introduction, as it really paints a picture about the artist's life.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a little more in-depth analysis. It was mostly just describing sketches and their histories. As someone who studied art history, it felt sparse and like a brush off from real study of Da Vinci

[The Badger · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2009, on the island of Crete, I saw an exhibit that used DaVinci's drawings to build scaled-down WORKING replicas of his "machines." It was amazing--mostly because I recognized his creations (such as the helicopter!) as today's technology.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely examples of sketches. Not very good if you're interested more in his finshed works, but highly informative and great for studying his approach to anatomy.

[Artisan Nali · Rating 3 out of 5]

would've loved to see more of his sketches included in the book even if there was no commentary

[philosophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

leonardo da vinci is one of the most brilliant people that ever existed. through the selected drawings that are gathered in this book it is obvious that he has contributed significantly to art. barrington does a great job of analyzing the various drawings, while his writing style is simple and enjoyable.