"Art historian Simonetta Carr draws on recent scholarship that challenges the traditional view of Michelangelo as a recluse. Readers will also learn about the complex and fluid era of the Italian Renaissance and how the times affected his life and work. Lavish photos, informative sidebars, a time line, glossary, and suggestions for further readings add value, while 21 hands-on activities help young readers identify with the artist and his work. Kids...

This first book in a two-volume history of the great artist covers his rise to prominence, an era during which her created the statue Pietà, the giant marble David, the Sistine Ceiling frescoes, the new sacristy and library for the Medici family at San Lorenzo, and the monumental tomb for Pope Julius II in Rome.

"Filling notebook after notebook with sketches, inventions, and theories, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) not only stands as one of the most exceptional draftsmen of art history, but also as a mastermind and innovator who anticipated some of the greatest discoveries of human progress, sometimes centuries before their material realization. From the smallest arteries in the human heart to the far-flung constellations of the universe, Leonardo saw nature...

"Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was a man of many talents--a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, and scholar--but he is best known for Lives of the Artists, the classic account that singlehandedly invented the genre of artistic biography and established the canon of Italian Renaissance art. Before Vasari's extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill rather than an intellectual pursuit, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It...

This book explores the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci and explains the profound impact his ideas have had on our times, discussing his paintings, fascination with water, and dream of flying. Revered today as, perhaps, the greatest of Renaissance painters, Leonardo da Vinci was a scientist at heart. The artist who created the Mona Lisa also designed functioning robots and digital computers, constructed flying machines and built the first heart valve. His...