The Stolen Notebooks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Man from the East
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The Stolen Notebooks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Man from the East Details
This groundbreaking title, “The Stolen Notebooks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Man from the East,” stands in a league of its own. Outstanding research, thoroughly presented, the premise is shocking. Leonardo da Vinci did not write the Notebooks attributed to him since early in the sixteenth century.Delving into reasons biographers assume Leonardo da Vinci wrote the Notebooks, hunting down sources and original texts, international art historian Dr Susan Grundy exposes the lie. It was only Leonardo’s young heir and artistic protégé Milanese Francesco Melzi who said these were Leonardo’s notes. Written right to left and back to front in Eastern fashion, when the Notebooks became more accessible in the nineteenth century the world met a man who wasn’t Leonardo da Vinci, a man with many occupations outside of art, and who seemed to be from the East. Yet the scholarly world continues on, blithely promoting Leonardo da Vinci as the (Western) world's greatest genius based on words he didn't write, diagrams he didn't draw, and objects he didn't invent. They have him follow careers he wasn't qualified for or experienced in. A reported two hundred and fifty volumes were published in European languages in 2019 supporting the myth of the great polymath genius Leonardo da Vinci. Notably, not a single one posed the fundamental question: how do we know Leonardo da Vinci was the creator of the technical writings and designs now known as the Notebooks?Questions arise as to how sources are injudiciously used to sustain the fake claim Leonardo da Vinci was the note-maker, when even he never made this assertion. In his Will Leonardo stated simply his calling had been as a Painter. It becomes clear: Leonardo da Vinci did not write the Notebooks. But if Leonardo wasn’t the note-maker, then the crucial question becomes who was. An Eastern name emerges from the shadows, Zoroastro.________________________“The Stolen Notebooks” also demonstrates the autograph status of many artworks relies on the assumption of Leonardo da Vinci’s authorship of the Notebooks. Illustrated on the cover is a detail from a painting now attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, “The Annunciation” (c.1472). The city depicted is not the usual faux scene of Tuscany imagined as the Holy Land, but is shown as a bustling contemporary Muslim port, the landscape a capriccio with a huge sugar loaf mountain that is certainly not found anywhere in Italy.
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