Review: Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature

Book Review| March 01 2024 Review: Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature Leslie A. Geddes Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 2020, 256 pp. , 124 color and 14 b/w illus. 68 (cloth), ISBN 9780691192697 Christian K. Kleinbub Christian K. Kleinbub New Foundation for Art History Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2024) 83 (1): 105–107. https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 1. 105 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures Review: Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 March 2024; 83 (1): 105–107. doi: https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 1. 105 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search As Leslie A. Geddes explains in Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature, Leonardo da Vinci worked on the historical cusp between purely theoretical and more observational methods of analysis in the earth sciences. It was a time, too, that saw the artistic and analytic as intimately entwined. To understand better the special qualities of Leonardo's moment, not to mention his interdisciplinary mind, Geddes takes up the problem of water in his art and thought. She makes use of the art historian's methods, and the resulting book reads like an extended ekphrasis of those works touched by Leonardo's aqueous concerns, whether they address puzzles of engineering or render portraits of natural phenomena. From Madonnas to mapmaking, Geddes reveals how Leonardo's understanding of water inflects just about everything. The book is divided into two parts. The first, titled "Water Tamed, " treats Leonardo's mechanical studies employing water, such as. . . You do not currently have access to this content.