- Compact, affordable introduction to some of the world's most popular artists, looking at their works in incredible detail - Filled with superbly reproduced full-page, close-up detail, offering new views of some of the world's most popular paintings Leonardo da Vinci is the archetypal universal man, a multi-talented genius who left an indelible mark on all the realms of art and knowledge he ventured into - painting, drawing and architecture, natural science, anatomy, mathematics, engineering and astronomy. His genius as a painter was reinforced by an analytical understanding of not only the human body but also nature and the physical laws of light. On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death in 1519, this book celebrates the artist by highlighting 30 masterpieces, including the Annunciation, the Baptism of Christ, the Lady with an Ermine, the Mona Lisa, the Virgin of the Rocks and the Last Supper, as well as a selection of his finest drawings. Accompanied by clear, concise commentary and arranged according to theme, enlargements of significant detail from these works guide the reader in discovering this greatest exponent of Renaissance humanism.