Leonardo da Vinci (Isaacson book): Difference between revisions

Leonardo da Vinci is a biography of Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. The book was written by Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN, Time and the Aspen Institute who had previously written best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs.

Isaacson said that the book does not contain any new discoveries about da Vinci.^[1]

Jennifer Senior of the New York Times wrote:^[2]

I’m not sure the role of art critic suits him. Isaacson’s enthusiasm is admirable, but he hails many of Leonardo’s creations in the same breathless tone with which a teenager might greet a new Apple product. The words “brilliant,” “wondrous” and “ingenious” come up a lot.

Senior also criticized Isaacson's "Learning from Leonardo" summary at the end of the book, describing it as a form of "TED-ism".^[2]

When comparing Isaacson's book to Mike Lankford's Becoming Leonardo, Daniel J. Levitin of the Wall Street Journal wrote, "Mr. Isaacson's book feels cobbled together, as if written on deadline, while Mr. Lankford seems to have taken all the time he needed."^[3]

Alexander C. Kafka of the Washington Post wrote:^[4]

Isaacson’s approach, true to his background, is fundamentally journalistic. No intellectual peacocking for him, and though his writing is certainly graceful, it is never needlessly ornate. But make no mistake: He knows his stuff ...

Robin McKie of The Guardian described the book as "sumptuous, elegantly written and diligently produced".^[5]

Joshua Kim of Inside Higher Ed theorized that the $450 million sale price of da Vinci's painting Salvator Mundi in November 2017 may have been influenced by the book.^[6]

In August 2017 Paramount outbid Universal Pictures for the rights to adapt the book into a film. It was decided that Leonardo DiCaprio would play da Vinci, who is said to be named after da Vinci.^[7] This did not work out, so Universal bought the rights to it in 2023. (Universal had already adapted Isaacson's book about Steve Jobs into a film.)^[8] Andrew Haigh was chosen to direct the film.^[9][10]