Romance of Leonard da Vinci

Rating:
Summary: an excellent but forgotten historical novel
Review: This is, as the translator pointed out, one of the finest historical novels ever written. It was part of Random House's Modern Library series for a long time, but has since lapsed into oblivion. Although not a biography, it tells us a lot about Da Vinci and his life, and it often goes off on tangents about the people and events of his day. His mention of Da Vinci's homosexuality is limited to a few scattered and rather "iffy" remarks. He devotes too much space to the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci's attempts to create an airplane, but this is a very amusing, instructive and well-written book.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent but forgotten historical novel
Review: This is, as the translator pointed out, one of the finest historical novels ever written. It was part of Random House's Modern Library series for a long time, but has since lapsed into oblivion. Although not a biography, it tells us a lot about Da Vinci and his life, and it often goes off on tangents about the people and events of his day. His mention of Da Vinci's homosexuality is limited to a few scattered and rather "iffy" remarks. He devotes too much space to the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci's attempts to create an airplane, but this is a very amusing, instructive and well-written book.