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"Leonardo da Vinci" by Steve Augarde

Author:

Steve Augarde

Publisher:

Kingfisher

Augarde, Steve.  Leonardo da Vinci.  New York:  L Kingfisher, 2010.

In a helpfully large format (10 ¼ x 11 ½“) the author/illustrator presents the fictionalized account by Paolo of an apprentice’s life in an art studio in Italy.  There are 17 entries in his “journal” spread over six month of 1490, with two more following eight years later, when he was –at 18 years of age- and established artist in his own right.  Accompanying these fictionalized diary entries are brief margin paragraphs providing additional factual details.

The fully painted art features double page spreads as well as others where facing pages feature several small vignettes giving a few details of costume, architecture and other details of daily life in 15^th century Italy.

At the conclusion of the imagined narrative, there are nine following sections on such topics as “What Happened Next?” “The Heart of Europe” and “People and Power.”  Continuous text in these sections is helpfully broken into briefer segments, accompanies by line drawings and full color, as well as black and white photographs.  The book concludes with a glossary and index.  This is an effective presentation about the studio operation and artistic output of Leonardo, set in an effectively wide look at the context of the times.

As an introduction, this most recent book in a series of biographies for young readers serves the admirable purpose of introducing children to an art form and one of the most significant practitioners of it.  The series is wide ranging, including a book about a woman doctor who was the leading force in building a rural hospital, and another about those clever men who started a motorcycle company known world wide yet today.

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