Da Vinci's Ghost
Toby Lester
Free Press
<p>In <I>Da Vinci's Ghost</i>, critically acclaimed historian Toby Lester tells the story of the world's most iconic image, the Vitruvian Man, and sheds surprising new light on the artistry and scholarship of Leonardo da Vinci, one of history's most fascinating figures.<br />Deftly weaving together art, architecture, history, theology, and much else, <i>Da Vinci's Ghost </i>is a first-rate intellectual enchantment."<b>&#8212;</b>Charles Mann, author of <i>1493</i><br /> <br />Da Vinci didn't summon Vitruvian Man out of thin air. He was inspired by the idea originally formulated by the Roman architect Vitruvius, who suggested that the human body could be made to fit inside a circle, long associated with the divine, and a square, related to the earthly and secular. To place a man inside those shapes was to imply that the human body could indeed be a blueprint for the workings of the universe. Da Vinci elevated Vitruvius' idea to exhilarating heights when he set out to do something...