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Felix Purat's avatar

I certainly cherish those works of art I've managed to wind my way towards while over here. Including Lady with an Ermine which is in Krakow.

Da Vinci was unquestionably a genius. But in most respects he was a symbolic genius. After all, we didn't start using flying machines because Da Vinci designed them. Da Vinci is very much about potential more than anything else; the exception is his paintings. I guess he also does get credit for being the first of a slew of polymaths we would have in the West from then until the 20th century.

That's about all I can comment on. Would love to read a biography of him, if you know of a good one. I'm sure the only person who has been biographized more than him is Napoleon.

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Mike Goodenow Weber's avatar

Lady with an Ermine is an awesome painting. Da Vinci was a genius; he almost never finished anything. Your points are quite valid, I think.

Biography. I'll look at my prior bibliographies. Didn't Walter Isaacson do one? The most biographized person ever, I think, was Abraham Lincoln.

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Felix Purat's avatar

He did write one, but I haven't read anything by Isaacson yet because he has this celebrity factor and I don't know if it's because his biographies are outstanding or if he has a Yuval Noah Harari type of glamor. But I have his biography of Einstein on my shelf, since I found a copy for a few bucks a few years back.

Interesting. I wonder who takes the cake on that one. All three, I imagine, have been heavily biographized either way. I can see Lincoln being the number one choice in America, certainly.

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Jules's avatar

Surely no one will ever come close to the genius of da Vinci. Astonishing.

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