Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece

An innovative look at the creation of Leonardo’s The Virgin of the Rocks

This concise but innovative book, published to accompany an immersive digital exhibition at the National Gallery, London, focuses on a single Leonardo painting, and one of the artist’s most celebrated: The Virgin of the Rocks. The quarter-century process of its creation is described, while a technical study shows how the latest scanning technology has been used by the National Gallery to explore beneath the surface of the picture, resulting in new insights into Leonardo’s approach, optical theories, and painting technique. Illustrated with details of the painting, technical images, drawings, and comparative works, this volume combines the expertise of curators, conservators, and scientists in order to introduce readers to a fresh perspective on one of history’s most extraordinary minds.

Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press