The new Ken Burns documentary about da Vinci rises to the occasion

One could hardly hope for a better coming together of talents: Ken Burns, one of America’s most talented documentary filmmakers, takes on arguably the man of the last millennium: Leonardo da Vinci. The nearly four-hour result is among Burns’ very best work and a brilliant introduction to one of the most fascinating minds in Italian – and perhaps world – history. It also marks the first time Burns has dealt with a non-American topic.

The inspiration for da Vinci’s anatomical drawing was the writings of ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. | ADOBE

The documentary traces Leonardo da Vinci’s life, showing him to be the epitome of the Italian Renaissance: an artist of prodigious talent, a relentlessly curious scientist, and an inventor of such imagination that just the images of his devices captivate the mind. Burns’s team brings to life not just Leonardo’s life but also the zeitgeist of Renaissance Italy: We learn about his influences and rivalries with men like Michelangelo and Raphael. We see political upheavals, tension, and warfare that sent Leonardo wandering across the Italian peninsula from patron to patron and eventually to his final years in France.

The film gives ample time to each of the various fascinations – perhaps even obsessions – that drove this amazing man. Leonardo was, of course, a consummate painter of magisterial skill, yet he completed few paintings, often keeping them with him for years. Writing in his prodigious journals, he asked, “Tell me if anything was ever really done?” Only his death liberated a few of his last works.

In one particularly fascinating segment, the documentary shows how Leonardo used single-point linear perspective and his understanding of the human mind and form to create his masterpiece “The Last Supper.” Painted on a wall of a monastery, it was one work he had to leave behind.

Leonardo possessed a mind of scientific intensity that discovered underlying patterns in nature. He performed dissections, driven by his need as an artist and scientist to understand human anatomy. Leonardo discovered how the four-chambered heart functioned using simple materials like silk, wax, water, and grass seeds – only to be proven right 450 years later with sophisticated technology like MRI scans that Leonardo could only have imagined. Likewise, his fascination with flight and birds never quite left him, and his love for the avian soul is captured by the story of how he would purchase live birds in the market only to let them fly free. He considered himself a “disciple of nature” and his life’s work shows it.

The portal to Leonardo’s immense curiosity is the thousands of pages of journal entries he made. Written in a mirror script and studded with wonderful sketches, Leonardo created in them the first exploded and transparent images that showed the inner workings of machines and humans alike.

The documentary does not shy away from Leonardo’s sexuality, noting his lifetime relationship with his companion Salai. But this does not suggest Leonardo was not able to capture the feminine experience – his commissioned portraits of female subjects, such as the “Mona Lisa,” depicted women’s features while penetrating their souls and minds
with a half-smile or a sparkle in their eyes.

If you take pride in being Italian, take some time to watch this documentary about this most famous of Italians. It is available streaming on PBS and for purchase on iTunes and other platforms.