Leonardo Paintings and Drawings: 24 Cards

Book cover: 'Leonardo Paintings and Drawings: 24 Cards'
Copyright: 
2004
Publisher: 
Dover Publications
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Resource Type: 
Review: 
24 Postcards in perforated book

Most homeschoolers are familiar with the Montessori-style idea of having children learn to enjoy and appreciate great paintings by studying small post-card size reproductions (especially as promoted by Aline Wolf in Mommy It's a Renoir). This is a very nice program, as I understand it, but I've been frustrated with the lack of beautiful painting collections in postcard size. You can find them here and there at museums, but they have been very difficult to purchase on the web or from catalog. Dover Publications is beginning to fill that gap with some beautiful postcard collections, but Leonardo is my favorite so far.

The set includes 13 reproductions of paintings: Madonna with the Carnation (1475), The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (1508), Bacchus (circa 1513), Portrait of Ginerva de'Benci (circa 1478), The Last Supper - detail (1495-1497), The Benois Madonna (circa 1478), The Annunciation - detail (circa 1472), St. John the Baptist (circa 1513-1516), Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani a.k.a. Lady with an Ermine (circa 1490), Madonna of the Yarnwinder (1501), Madonna Litta (circa 1490), Mona Lisa (1503-1506), and Portrait of a Musician (circa 1490).

There are 11 beautiful drawings as well: The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Profile of a Young Woman, Antique Warrior, Self-Portrait, Five Grotesque Heads, The Virgin of the Rocks, Vitruvian Man, Study for the Last Supper and Architectural Sketches, Old Man and Youth, Study for the Battle of Anghiari and Feminine Headdress.

This is a great and inexpensive way to introduce children to really great art. Also would make a nice supplement to Leonardo da Vinci for Kids.

Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
10-30-05