Leonardo da Vinci, on PBS

He was like the Orson Welles of the Renaissance. Everyone knew he was brilliant, but he still had trouble finishing projects. Of course, he left behind enough to judge his genius—like the Mona Lisa. He led an eventful life, which is fortunate since he has already been the protagonist of fictional series from Starz and CW. Now the true Renaissance man becomes Ken Burns’ first non-American subject when the two-part Leonardo da Vinci (co-directed by Sasha Burns and David McMahon) premieres this Monday and Tuesday on PBS.

Yes, Leonardo was illegitimate, but the battery of historians and talking heads do a nice job explaining why that really wasn’t such a big deal at the time. Frankly, the same was true for his presumed sexuality in pre-Savonarola Florence. There is still a good deal of speculation regarding Leonardo’s life, particularly his early years, but the law firm-sounding trio of Burns, Burns, and McMahon do a nice job of covering all the periods of his life, from Vinci to Florence and then onto Milan and eventually France.

Logically, they focus and good deal on his work, particularly his sketches, codices, and scientific journals. Frankly, they make a convincing case Leonardo really was hundreds of years ahead of his time, especially with regards to his deductions regarding the structure and mechanics of the human heart.

Of course, it is also frustrating to hear about all the commissions he left incomplete or had canceled at the last minute. Arguably, they had to give “Vetruvian Man” roughly equal time as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, because that is what they had to work with.

Perhaps the best news is Keith David, the voice of Jazz, finally returns as narrator (and it is good to hear him again). The assembled historians also sound authoritative and always stay on-topic. Art historian Monsignor Timothy Verdon and biographer Charles Nicholl standout for their insights and their rich voices. As a result, Leonardo da Vinci is at least as good as Burns’ Hemingway and considerably better than his unfocused and polemical The U.S. and the Holocaust¸ but it lacks the resonance of his run of great American documentaries, starting with The Civil War, including Jazz, Baseball, and Jack Johnson, and then concluding with Prohibition. (Burns production company is indeed called Florentine Films, but he is still a Yank profiling an Italian who died over 500 years ago.)

Regardless, Burns and company certainly accomplish what they set out to do, examining Leonardo’s life and work from every fruitful angle. Thanks to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s evocative but not slavishly imitative score (featuring bassist John Patitucci), the polymath’s two-parter also has a good deal of style. Recommended for art lovers and fans of the Burns/Florentine brand, Leonardo da Vinci airs this Monday and Tuesday (11/18 & 11/19) on PBS.