This is a first class study of the life and times of an incomparable genius. Leonardo da Vinci is, undeniably, one of the most famous men in the history of the world — architect and sculptor, painter and engineer, writer and student of anatomy — his was a genius such as the world may never know again. Yet little is known about his personal life — even to his contemporaries Leonardo was considered a mystery. Magnificently illustrated, this volume offers readers an unparalleled reconstruction of Da Vinci's life and times based only on what is considered by scholars to be reliable information — much of it drawn from the «National Edition of the Manuscripts and Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci», the Italian collection of all da Vinci's drawings and codices which Giunti was entrusted with editing and reproducing by Decree of the Republic of Italy from 1964 onwards.