NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
A NEW FILM BY KEN BURNS EXPLORES ONE OF HUMANKIND’S MOST CURIOUS AND INNOVATIVE MINDS
Fifteenth-century genius of soaring imagination and profound intellect, Leonardo da Vinci of the High Renaissance created some of the most revered works of art of all time. This new Ken Burns two-part four-hour film tells the story of da Vinci — whose masterpieces of staggering beauty and detailed sketches of futuristic contraptions of warfare and flight as well subjects including botany, astronomy, and paleontology continue to be marveled at today. From his birth out of wedlock to a notary and peasant woman, and apprenticeship to the artist Andrea del Verrocchio, to his days as a military architect, cartographer, sculptor, and muralist for hire — the film offers an intimate portrait of a singular visionary whose Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, Head of a Woman, and Self Portrait are considered to be among the most famous paintings and drawings in the world. Yet these artistic endeavors may seem an afterthought compared to his pursuits in science, architecture, and engineering. Set against a rich and dynamic backdrop of Renaissance Italy, Leonardo da Vinci will bring this unique figure and his towering achievements to life through his voluminous personal notebooks, primary and secondary accounts of his life and times, and on-camera interviews with modern scholars, artists, engineers, inventors, and admirers.
Part 1, “The Disciple of Experience” focuses on his early career in the bottega, or workshop, of Verrocchio, and the 18 years he spent under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of the Duchy of Milan. During this period, da Vinci created some of his most renowned works including The Last Supper. Part 2, “Painter-God,” follows Leonardo’s scientific endeavors and his travels around Italy as well as his project upon returning to Florence, for military strongman Cesare Borgia, devising new ways to map cities. During this period, he began a portrait of the wife of the merchant Francesco del Giocondo, which would become his famed Mona Lisa. Directed by Burns, along with his daughter Sarah Burns and colleague David McMahon, Leonardo da Vinci is the first non-American subject for the acclaimed documentarian. This film marks a significant change in the team’s filmmaking style — using split screens with images, video, and sound from different periods to further put da Vinci’s illustrious explorations into context. Begins Monday, November 18 at 8 p.m. on VPM PBS.
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