Ken Burns has already cracked the code for being synonymous with highbrow documentary filmmaking, but now the award-winning director is taking on an unprecedented feat: capturing the life and legacy of Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci.

Burns’ upcoming PBS film “Leonardo da Vinci” marks the director’s first non-American subject. The two-part, four-hour documentary will debut November 18 and 19, as Burns codirects with daughter Sarah Burns and Dave McMahon.

Per the official synopsis, “Leonardo da Vinci” follows the 15th century polymath’s life and evolution as a draughtsman and painter, scientist and engineer, who used notebooks to explore an astonishing array of subjects including painting, philosophy, engineering, warfare, anatomy, and geography, among many others. Set against the rich and dynamic backdrop of Renaissance Italy, at a time of skepticism and freethinking, regional war and religious upheaval, “Leonardo da Vinci” brings the artist’s towering achievements to life through his prolific personal notebooks,...