In a message dated 4/16/2004 12:06:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Sadly, Leonardo da Vinci's significance has been over-inflated merely
 because much is known about him.  (Thanks to his ready access to, and
 ability to fill, codex after codex -- and not unlike Samuel Pepes - the
 diarist - who would otherwise have been a minor footnote . . . and
 Benvenuto Cellini, often noted for his "autobiography" rather than his
 artwork.)  On the whole, Leonardo was an average painter with a
 miniscule production.  (Sure, sure . . . sfumato and bird's eye view
 aside, as other artists were better capable of said techniques.)   >>

I'm afraid I can't agree with (or even understand) this revisionism.  There
are still plenty of art historians who consider Leonardo an artist of primary
significance, despite his MINUSCULE painting output and his (justifiable)
boasting, and I'd be interested in hearing about the artists who were "better
capable" of such techniques as sfumato. Perhaps the iconic popularity of the "Mona
Lisa" is over-inflated, but let's not blame him for that.  And of course he
also filled codex after codex with his writings, not to mention his superb
drawings.  What's this about his "ready access?"

I'd say Cellini is noted for "both" his autobiography and his art, not
"rather than" his art.  And what's the point of the remark about the diarist and
non-painter Samuel Pepys, to spell it correctly?  Of course he would be a minor
footnote without his diaries; one might as well say Hemingway would be a minor
footnote without his novels and short stories.

David Haberstich

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