Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is undoubtedly the best-known artist of all time. He was famous during his own lifetime for his matchless gift for depicting human characters and emotions. He was one of the first artists to become fascinated by the expressiveness of the human face, be it deformed and ugly or beautiful and idealised. This is seen not only in famous paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but even more so in the dozens of drawings that he made of people’s faces.

In addition to many of his superb drawings, Leonardo da Vinci – The Language of Faces contains dozens of works by his contemporaries and followers. This dazzling Renaissance art from collections throughout the world has here been brought together in a single book for the first time.