Leonardo's Last Supper , one of the most important works of the Renaissance if not all of Western art, was painted between 1494 and 1498 in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. From the moment that the prior at the monastery complained to Leonardo that the work was taking too long, the Last Supper has endured centuries of controversy, neglect, and difficulty. Leonardo, The Last Supper , translated from the Italian, is the definitive document of the recently completed project to reverse these centuries of ...
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Leonardo's Last Supper , one of the most important works of the Renaissance if not all of Western art, was painted between 1494 and 1498 in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. From the moment that the prior at the monastery complained to Leonardo that the work was taking too long, the Last Supper has endured centuries of controversy, neglect, and difficulty. Leonardo, The Last Supper , translated from the Italian, is the definitive document of the recently completed project to reverse these centuries of decline by restoring the painting and preserving it in a manner that generations of conservators have failed to do. The technical problems with the Last Supper began as soon as Leonardo started to paint it. He jettisoned the traditional fresco technique of applying paint to wet plaster, a method unsuited to Leonardo's slow and thorough execution, and created the work instead with an experimental technique that involved painting directly on the dry plaster. With this renegade method, Leonardo rendered one of the most enduring painting techniques volatile and unstable. Added to this initial complication have been centuries of pollution, tourists, candle smoke, and the ravages of age, not to mention food fights in the refectory staged by Napoleonic soldiers and Allied bombs in 1943. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Last Supper was in desperate need of a complete restoration. Pinin Brambilla Barcilon was chosen to head this twenty-year project, and Leonardo, The Last Supper is the official record of her remarkable effort. It first documents the cleaning and removal of the overpainting performed in the other attempts at restoration and then turns to Barcilon's meticulous additions in watercolor, which were based on Leonardo's preparatory drawings, early copies of the painting, and contemporary textual descriptions. This book presents full-scale reproductions of details from the fresco that clearly display and distinguish Leonardo's hand from that of the restorer. With nearly 400 sumptuous color reproductions, the most comprehensive technical documentation of the project by Barcilon, and an introductory essay by art historian and project codirector Pietro C. Marani that focuses on the history of the fresco, Leonardo, The Last Supper is an invaluable historic record, an extraordinarily handsome book, and an essential volume for anyone who appreciates the beauty, technical achievements, and fate of Renaissance painting.
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Add this copy of Leonardo: the Last Supper to cart. $72.96, like new condition, Sold by Daedalus Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of Leonardo: the Last Supper to cart. $73.50, very good condition, Sold by Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Marietta, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by The University of Chicago Press.
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Seller's Description:
VG. Slipcase covered in beige cloth with color illus. plate affixed; Color illus. dj.; Beige cloth over boards; 440 pp.; Profusely illustrated with over 400 bw and color plates and figures. An in-depth look at the enduring challenge of conserving Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper, " a task the artist himself had to take up soon after painting the fresco; Includes technical documents and drawings from the twenty-nine year restoration project led by Pinin Brambilla; Heavy.
Add this copy of Leonardo: the Last Supper to cart. $75.00, like new condition, Sold by Argosy Book Store rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by University of Chicago Press.
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Seller's Description:
Da Vinci. Fine in fine jacket. Well-illustrated throughout, much in color. 440 pages. Thick square 4to, tan cloth, d.w., pictorial slipcase. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (2001)/. Reprint. A fine copy in a fine dust wrapper and box.
Add this copy of Leonardo the Last Supper to cart. $80.00, like new condition, Sold by Midway Book Store rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by University Of Chicago Press.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 28.5 x 25 cm. Quarto. 440 pages. Tan cloth in dust jacket and slipcase. Some sun fading to the dust jacket spine, else fine. Nearly 400 beautiful color reproductions.
