Author(s): Martin Kemp

Display & Gift

This fascinating new book, published to accompany a landmark exhibition at the V&A opening in September 2006, provides an unrivalled insight into the working of Leonard da Vinci's visual mind and conveys the magnificent scale of his ideas. The pages of his notebooks are unparalleled in the graphic work of any other thinker from any age and they deal with mighty inventions, great visions of the earth in age-long transformation, the mysterious governance of mathematical proportion in the design of the universe, the most detailed observations and theories of the motions of waters, meticulous reconstructions of the operation of heart valves and with the arts of peace and the science of war. Drawing on the collections of the V&A, The Royal Library Windsor, The British Library, The Bill and Melinda Gates Collection and The British Museum, extraordinary pages from his notebooks, some virtually unknown, are brought to life by large-scale models, most notably his flying machine, tank and giant cross-bow.