A Treatise On Painting

A Treatise On Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This volume presents an English translation and digested arrangement of Leonardo’s renowned treatise on painting, supplemented by a new Life of the Author drawn from authentic materials. The book combines a clear, organized presentation of core artistic precepts with biographical context and notes on the author’s manuscripts. It covers drawing and proportion, anatomy, motion and balance, invention and composition, expression and character, light and shadow, colours, and perspective, including linear and aerial perspective. The Life of Leonardo and a catalogue of his works are included to illuminate the painter’s methods and aims, while editorial commentary explains the sources—Venturi’s abridgments, Melzi’s copies, and the involvement of the translator and editor in shaping a coherent system of principles for artists. The translator emphasizes fidelity to the Italian original, reorganizing disparate passages under proper heads to form a comprehensive, practical guide to art that remains as much a portrait of Leonardo’s inventive mind as a manual for painting." Read more