Leonardo and the Last Supper - by Ross King (Paperback)

About the Book

The fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of one of history's greatest masterpieces-"A gripping account" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times).

Book Synopsis

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began what would become one of history's most influential works of art-The Last Supper. After a decade at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point: at forty-three, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise. His latest failure was a giant bronze horse to honor Sforza's father, made with material expropriated by the military. The commission to paint The Last Supper was a small compensation, and his odds of completing it weren't promising: he hadn't worked on such a large painting and had no experience in the standard mural medium of fresco.

Amid war and the political and religious turmoil around him, and beset by his own insecurities and frustrations, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would forever define him. Ross King unveils dozens of stories that are embedded in the painting, and overturns many of the myths surrounding it. Bringing to life a fascinating period in European history, he presents an original portrait of one of history's greatest geniuses through the lens of his most famous work.

Review Quotes

"Quickly dispenses with the outlandish myths spread by The Da Vinci Code... history is in many ways more surprising than Dan Brown's popular fiction." --New York Post

"[A] dramatic, vivid, and brainy mix of biography and art history." --Booklist (starred review)

"An absorbing study of a disappearing masterpiece...King places the painting in its political, social and artistic context, describing both the meaning of da Vinci's work and the violent 15th-century Italian world that spawned it...King plumbs the painting's religious, secular, psychological and political meanings, registered in the facial expressions and hand positions, the significance of the food on the table and, most fascinatingly, the salt spilled by the betraying Judas...King's book is an impressive work of restoration--the author helps readers see this painting for the first time." --Kirkus (starred review)

"A fascinating and in-depth story of one of the world's most famous works of art that will appeal to general readers as well as academics. Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred review)

"King provides a fascinating look at the artist's life, including his reputation among his patrons as unreliable, and his relationships with those he worked with and for-including a young boy named Giacomo, who 'held a great physical attraction for Leonardo.' However, King's speculations are never salacious; rather, they help place Leonardo's life into the context of Florence's history of sexual tolerance and subsequent religious crackdowns...the book proves most lively when tackling common misconceptions about the painting, with The Da Vinci Code coming in for special criticism." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Ross King is the highly praised author of Brunelleschi's Dome (the Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2000), Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling (on the New York Times extended bestseller list), The Judgment of Paris, Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power, and two novels, Ex Libris and Domino. He lives outside Oxford in England.