Filling notebook after notebook with sketches, inventions, and theories, Leonardo da Vinci not only stands as one of the most exceptional draftsmen of art history, but also as a mastermind and innovator who anticipated some of the greatest discoveries of human progress, sometimes centuries before their material realisation.

From the smallest arteries in the human heart to the far-flung constellations of the universe, Leonardo saw nature and science as being unequivocally connected. His points of enquiry and invention spanned philosophy, anatomy, geology, and mathematics, from the laws of optics, gravitation, heat and light to the building of a flying machine.

In his painting, Leonardo steered art out of the Middle Ages with works such as The Last Supper and the world-famous La Gioconda or Mona Lisa depicting not only physical appearances, but a compelling psychological intrigue and depth which continues to draw crowds of mesmerized visitors to masterpieces in Paris, Milan, Washington, London, and Rome.

This book collates some of Leonardo's most outstanding work to introduce a figure of infinite curiosity, feverish imagination and sublime artistic ability, often described as having “not enough worlds for to conquer, and not enough lives for to live” (Alan Woods).

　　莱昂纳多·达·芬奇草图、发明和理填满了后世人的笔记本，他不仅是艺术史上最出色的开拓者之一，还是一位能够创造和预见人类最伟大的发明、发现的大师和创新者，甚至他的发明和预见比他所在的时代早了几个世纪。

　　在他的作品中，莱昂纳多带领着艺术总厨中世纪与作品本身，如最后的晚餐和世界**的蒙娜丽莎，他描绘的不仅是身体的外表，而是一个细致入微的心理阴谋，而这些心理的描绘吸引了一批又一批的游客在巴黎、米兰、华盛顿、伦敦和罗马欣赏这些作品。

The author

Frank Zöllner wrote his doctoral thesis on motifs originating from Antiquity in the history of art and architecture of the Medieval and Renaissance periods (1987). He is also the author of a postdoctoral treatise on motion and expression in the art of Leonardo da Vinci, published in 2010. He has published numerous works on Renaissance art and art theory, and on 20th-century art. Since 1996 he has been Professor of Medieval and Modern Art at the University of Leipzig. For TASCHEN he has authored the XL monographs on Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.