Leonardo and the Last Supper

De: Ross King

Narrado por: Mark Meadows

Early in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began work in Milan on what would become one of history's most influential and beloved works of art - The Last Supper. After a dozen years at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point personally and professionally: at 43, in an era when he had almost reached the average life expectancy, 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: His 75 tons of bronze had been expropriated to be turned into cannons to help repel a French invasion of Italy. The commission to paint The Last Supper in the refectory of a Dominican convent was a small compensation, and his odds of completing it were not promising: Not only had he never worked on a painting of such a large size - 15' high x 30' wide - but he had no experience in the extremely difficult medium of fresco. In his compelling new book, Ross King explores how - 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. King unveils dozens of stories that are embedded in the painting. Examining who served as the models for the Apostles, he makes a unique claim: that Leonardo modeled two of them on himself. Reviewing Leonardo's religious beliefs, King paints a much more complex picture than the received wisdom that he was a heretic. The food that Leonardo, a famous vegetarian, placed on the table reveals as much as do the numerous hand gestures of those at Christ's banquet. As King explains, many of the myths that have grown up around The Last Supper are wrong, but its true story is ever more interesting. Bringing to life a fascinating period in European history, Ross King presents an original portrait of one of the world's greatest geniuses through the lens of his most famous work.

©2012 Ross King (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Fascinating

This was my "backup book" and was interrupted several times by wait-listed library books becoming available, but it's the kind of book that actually reads okay in that broken-up kind of way... you wouldn't want to read a who-dunnit like that, but this book isn't only about Leonardo painting The Last Supper in Milano, it also serves as a moderately detailed biography of the great artist and scientist. I particularly enjoyed chapter 11 which talks about his library and the books that were especially valuable to him as an autodidact. Fascinating!

Another solid Ross King Art Story

I tried this out on a whim. I didn’t think there was much to say about this painting, great though it certainly is. Well, I was wrong. Really worth a listen, in fact two listens!

Interesting subject

This is mostly well written, and covers the very interesting subject of Leonardo and his contemporaries, around the time he started becoming well known, and then got The Last Supper commission. It is a bit fragmented with some unnecessary speculation but still quite enjoyable overall. The reader is quite good, and for once the Italian names of people and works are correctly pronounced.

If you were curious about davinci...

It was a good narrative for art enthusiasts who want to know more about this era of art history. A very enjoyable book!

VERY disappointed

Greatly enjoyed same author's book on Michelangelo.

Greatly disappointed that THIS book had relatively little to do with Leonardo. Rather, it seemed more of an inexorable discourse of the histories of Spain and France in their troubled interactions among themselves and Italy. I kept waiting for it all to become relevant, but it never did.

Narrator just kept slogging along in monotone. I don't think another narrator could have "saved it," though. Wrong choice. his reading of Italian names seemed good, but I am not well versed in Italian.

Generally well written and informative about topics covered. Just not much about Leonardo. I'm generally quite interested in European history.

Love Leonardo!

This was the second Ross King book I have listened to and they are excellent! After listening I feel like Leonardo is part of the family and I appreciate his genius so much more. The narrator is fabulous. Highly recommended.

Informative yet creative

Ross King is the best at making non-fiction material read like a novel. While this story is full of solid research and scholarship it is also an enjoyable read.

Not as interesting as I hoped

This is mostly another bio about Leonardo. I guess there’s only so much you can say about the Last Supper and this book went on longer than it needed to.

Well written, enjoyable listen.

I found this book very informative on the life of Da Vinci. He’s been in made into such a mystery by modern pop culture. Meadows does a fantastic job of cutting through the fog with clear and straightforward scholarship. The author’s reliance on primary source material is evident from cover to cover and helps him to “paint” (forgive me) a marvelous picture of Leonardo like I’d never seen before.

Sadly Lacking

There are interesting bits here and there but in general the book was sadly lacking in what I thought it would be about: Leonardo. The author seemed to be more interested in homosexuality in Italy during Leonardo’s time period than Leonardo himself. Quite a bit of speculation on the writer’s part making the individuals he wrote about very one dimensional. He is also describing Catholic art and imagery without really understanding much about Catholicism or sacred things. Unfortunately the book did not give a good impression of Leonardo; he was more of an unmotivated individual when it came to his art, often not completing commissions or taking a huge amount of time to finish. What should have been a fascinating subject matter was turned into a dull rambling slog.