Book review: “Leonardo: A Biographical Novel”

Hard facts are delivered with skill and solid research. Now, nearly five centuries after the famous Italian painter drew his last breath in a French chateau, we know more of the daemons and angels that tormented and inspired him. The result of his lifelong struggle is a legacy of incomparable scope.

In addition to paintings and sketches, Leonardo da Vinci left us a voluminous record of intellect and dreams detailed in rich colors. Anatomical discoveries, designs for weapons and aircraft, urban and rural layouts and water systems, advances in hydraulics and plumbing, insights into hygiene and plague prevention are juxtaposed with the meanderings of a troubled heart.

Born in an age of gradual enlightenment, the illegitimate son of a Circassian slave fought rejection and prejudice amid wars, petty politics, epidemics and religious fervor. Emblematic of Leonardo's early passion is the sketch of his dead and dearly beloved stepmother, hastily drawn in a noxious morgue.

One feels the sting of heartache as the weeping youth transferred harsh mortality to paper. Such were his formative years, seeking life in and through relentless death. Leonardo thus mirrored the sufferings of the Christ in his paintings of a transcendent, transgender savior. The artist was similarly conflicted on his own Golgotha, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.