PBS' compelling new four-hour, two-part documentary series Leonardo da Vinci, steered by renowned documentary maker Ken Burns and collaborators Sarah Burns and David McMahon, embarks on an explorative journey into the world and mind of the revered Renaissance polymath. The documentary series does not focus on da Vinci as an individual. Rather it provides an in-depth analysis of his intellectual prowess, effectively evaluating his artistic methods and intellectual processes.
The team at PBS has gained recognition for their approach to documentaries through extensive use of primary sources and interviews. Leonardo da Vinci, however, deviates from their conventional techniques. The documentary highlights the polymath's continuously evolving cognizance and intellectual dynamic, perfectly depicting da Vinci's intellectual wheels being set in motion.
The series extensively uses Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, famous for their remarkable mirror text, as the backbone of the documentary. They ingeniously utilize the notebooks' content on exploration of nature, the human body, and mathematical theories, thereby portraying da Vinci's unified thoughts. The filmmakers incorporate a use of split screens, a new addition to Burns' oeuvre, allowing the audience to witness da Vinci's leaps of intellect in real time.
The documentary masterfully captures da Vinci's fascination with the world through his rough estimations of devices yet to be invented and theories yet to be postulated, conveying his unprecedented foresight. It melds these hypothesized realities with his more renowned artistic endeavours. It superimposes the artist's paintings with geometric lines, resonating with his exploration of light and anatomy depicted in popular frescos. This synergy, evident in famous works like The Vitruvian Man, is utilized extensively in the documentary.
Featuring a broad array of experts ranging from art historians to surgeons and engineers the eclectic perspectives offered lend an interdisciplinary approach to the film. Despite the compelling insights provided, the documentary’s attempts to paint a personal biographical portrait of da Vinci often seem speculative and less engaging than the parts that highlight the synergistic culmination of his art and knowledge.
The series does a magnificent job of serving as an educational and absorbing trip through an art gallery, featuring intermittent erudite commentaries on the artist's most famed creations. Leonardo da Vinci, in its most profound moments, stands as a testament to a genius ingeniously weaving together the individual threads of his thoughts and work in an aesthetic and compelling manner.
