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Backlist: Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

(Picture: raremaps.com)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

It was in 1881 that Leonardo scholarship, for the very first time, was confronted with a very particular idea: that Leonardo da Vinci, the historic Leonardo, had spent two years of his life in Middle Eastern regions. This book is about the history of this very idea that actually goes back to Leonardo himself (although, as far as we know, he never actually, i.e. physically made such a trip; nonetheless among his writings the description of a fictitious or, if you like, mental trip can actually be found, and of course this is where the modern idea did originate, when modern scholarship, at the end of the 19th century, began to study Leonardo’s notes and writings).
You may read this book in three different but also closely connectable ways: as a history of Leonardo scholarship, focussing on the history of this particular idea; as a history of Leonardo reception in scholarship, literature and popular culture, again, focussing on this very idea. And, last but not least, as a book on Leonardo da Vinci’s relations to the Orient, since, as I thought from the beginning when writing this book, a discussion of a particular myth has to be embedded into a discussion of everything that bears on that myth and at the same time is real and can, with scholarly legitimacy, being described as being real. Thus and thirdly: this is also the first book that covers fully (and not only by summing up other people’s scholarship!) the topic ›Leonardo da Vinci and the Orient‹.

Im Jahre 1881 sah sich die kunsthistorische Fachwelt
zum ersten Male mit der These konfrontiert, dass Leonardo da Vinci
im Orient gewesen sei. Die sich als Reaktion darauf entwickelnde Debatte
ist das Kernthema dieses Bandes, der ihre Geschichte nachzeichnet
als Kulturgeschichte einer Idee, die über die Fachwelt hinaus
auch auf Literatur und Populärkultur eingewirkt hat.
Basierend auf der neuesten Forschung bietet der Band zudem
den ersten Gesamtüberblick über die vielfältigen Beziehungen
des historischen Leonardo zur orientalischen Welt, dargeboten
in einem umfassend angelegten Anhang, in dem sich ein kulturelles
Gesamtpanorama ost-westlicher Beziehungen entfaltet.

Order soon – it might be the last copy on stock:

http://www.amazon.de/Leonardo-Vinci-Orient-Geschichte-europäischen/dp/3412205265/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402232247&sr=1-1

(and yes, it is being read by non-German speaking audiences, too; sadly no English translation is yet available) (cover picture: amazon.de; small picture above: DS)

(Picture: raremaps.com)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

(Picture: DS)

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