A visionary scientist, a supreme painter, a man of eccentricity and ambition: Leonardo da Vinci had many lives. Born from a fleeting affair between a country girl and a young notary, Leonardo was never legitimized by his father and received no formal education. While this freedom from the routine of rigid and codified learning may have served to stimulate his natural creativity, it also caused many years of suffering and an insatiable need to prove his own worth. It was a striving for glory and an obsessive thirst for knowledge that prompted Leonardo to seek the protection and favour of the most powerful figures of his day, from Lorenzo de Medici to Ludovico Sforza, from the French governors of Milan to the pope in Rome, where he could vie for renown with Michelangelo and Raphael.

In this revelatory account, Antonio Forcellino draws on his expertise both as historian and as restorer of some of the worlds greatest works of art to give us a more detailed view of Leonardo than ever before. Through careful analyses of his paintings and compositional technique, down to the very materials used, Forcellino offers fresh insights into Leonardos artistic and intellectual development. He spans the great breadth of Leonardos genius, discussing his contributions to mechanics, optics, anatomy, geology and metallurgy, as well as providing acute psychological observations about the political dynamics and social contexts in which Leonardo worked.

Forcellino sheds new light on a life all too often overshadowed and obscured by myth, providing us with a fresh perspective on the personality and motivations of one of the greatest geniuses of Western culture.

Antonio Forcellino is a leading European authority on Renaissance art who has restored works of inestimable value, including MichelangelosMoses and the Arch of Trajan in Benevento. He is the author ofMichelangelo: A Tormented Life (Polity, 2009) andRaphael: A Passionate Life (Polity, 2012).

ProloguePart One. ILLEGITIMATE SON1. The Summer Child2. In Florence3. Verrocchios Workshop4. Drawing5. Early Experiments in the Workshop6. Epiphany7. Rebel Without a Cause8. The Accusation9. The Kite and the Vulture10. Other Distractions11. The New Humanity12. Leonardos TechniquePart Two. IN MILAN1. Virgins and Lovers2. At Ludovicos Court3. The Virgin of the Rocks4. Portrait of a Legend5. Anonymous Portraits6. Theatre and Science7. The New Science8. Salai9. The Phantom Horse10. The Last Supper11. Addio MilanPart Three. BACK TO FLORENCE1. A Fatherless Family2. The Madonnas of the Yarnwinder3. The Human Beast4. Real Wars and Mock Battles5. Waiting for Glory6. Body and SoulPart Four. IN EXILE1. Rome. The Great Illusion2. A Modest Apartment3. Leonardo and Rome4. The Three Paintings shown to Cardinal Luigi dAragona5. A World of Women6. The Mysterious Woman7. The End8. InheritanceNotesPlate CreditsIndex