Leonardo da Vinci | The Mechanics of Man

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neuromorphogenesis:

Scans that prove Leonardo da Vinci was right all along: New show reveals ‘startling accuracy’ of anatomical sketches which lay undiscovered for hundreds of years

The startling accuracy of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings will be highlighted by a new exhibition that compares the artist’s work with modern medical scans.

Long praised as one of the finest artists of the Renaissance era and a visionary inventor, da Vinci’s work as an anatomist was also well ahead of its time.

Da Vinci first began researching the human body to help him keep his paintings as ‘true to nature’ as possible, but the project soon took on a life of its own and he had ambitions to write an illustrated treatise on anatomy.

In the course of his investigations he dissected more than 30 corpses in hospitals and medical schools, filling hundreds of pages of his notebooks with detailed sketches.

Many of them date from the winter of 1510-11, when he dissected some 20 corpses at the medical school of the University of Pavia in collaboration with professor of anatomy Marcantonio della Torre.

On the 18 sheets of what is now known as Leonardo’s Anatomical Manuscript A, the artist crammed more than 240 individual drawings and notes running to more than 13,000 words in his distinctive mirror-writing.

The work, which has never before been shown in its entirety in the UK, covers almost every bone in the body and many major muscle groups.

Comparison with modern day medical scans shows how, despite his limited knowledge of medicine and the limited technology to hand, Da Vinci’s work was nevertheless incredibly accurate.

The artist’s insights could have revolutionised European knowledge of anatomy. 

However, on his death in 1519 they remained among his personal papers and did not see the light of day for hundreds of years.

A spokesman for the Royal Collection Trust said: ‘Had they been published at the time, they would undoubtedly have been the most influential work on the human body ever produced.’

Much of the work anticipates 21st-century medical thinking, using the same sequences of images now used to train medics.

He also recorded the muscles of the shoulder and arm in eight different views, rotating the body through 180 degrees. 

These drawings will be juxtaposed with a modern animation capturing the same sequence. 

Similarly, a 3D film of a dissected shoulder will demonstrate the incredible accuracy of da Vinci’s many drawings of the bones, muscles, nerves and tendons of the shoulder joint, seen from every angle and in every position.

‘This area of the body has a complex range of motion, and Leonardo’s attempts to capture it in two-dimensional drawings are shown to be centuries ahead of his time,’ the spokesman said.

Other exhibition highlights include the first accurate depiction of the spine in history (1510); Leonardo’s notes from his post-mortem dissection of a 100-year-old man (conducted c.1508), in which he gives the first accurate descriptions of cirrhosis of the liver and narrowing of the arteries in the history of medicine; and the iconic and beautiful study of a child in the womb (c.1511), displayed alongside a 3D ultrasound scan of a foetus.

(via molecularlifesciences)

discoveringdavinci:

“The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” - Leonardo da Vinci

discoveringdavinci:

“I reveal to men the origin of their second- first or perhaps second - cause of existence.” - Leonardo da Vinci

I went to see the exhibition ‘Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist’ in London last week and it was absolutely amazing. Its still on until the 7th of October so you can catch it if you’re quick!

rainbowhill:

Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci 1452-Amboise 1519) (artist)

A wonderful collection of anatomical illustrations by da Vinci at the Queen’s Gallery. Leonardo considered the foot a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

(via Recto: The bones of the foot. Verso: The bones and muscles of the arm | The Royal Collection)

Leonardo Da Vinci, Studies of the Shoulder and Neck, c. 1509-1510

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myampgoesto11:

Leonardo da Vinci Anatomy Drawings Go On Show

“The most complete display of Leonardo da Vinci’s human body drawings is to go on show in the UK for the first time.

The exhibition, Leonardo de Vinci: Anatomist, will be held in the Queen’s Gallery of Buckingham Palace in May.

On show will be the contents of the 16th Century Leoni binding, which held the drawings until around 1900.

“The binding was effectively the tomb of the drawings… it ensured that they were not circulated or published” said curator Martin Clayton.

“Only around 1900 did they emerge from the binding, and we now know that they were among the most amazingly detailed and accurate anatomical drawings of all time.

“And this exhibition will be the greatest opportunity since Leonardo’s death to marvel at his achievement.”

The contents of the Leoni binding is owned by the palace and the exhibition follows closely behind the sell-out show of the artist’s rare surviving paintings at London’s National Gallery.

Leonardo da Vinci has long been recognised as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance but the palace exhibition will also show him as highly perceptive anatomist, who was way ahead of his time.

He produced detailed studies of bones, muscles and internal organs, including the heart and the brain.

It is thought he intended to publish his studies but when he died in 1519 they remained among his private papers.

Leonardo left his notebooks and drawings to his assistant Francesco Melzi, whose son sold them to the sculptor Pompeo Leoni.

Leoni had the anatomical drawings bound together in an album with his name alongside Leonardo’s in gold lettering on the cover: Disegni di Leonardo da Vinci restaurati da Pompeo Leoni - “Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, preserved by Pompeo Leoni”.

[via BBC, images via Wikipaintings]

(via eyeballmansion)

valscrapbook:

wasbella102: Study of Violets, Leonardo Da Vinci

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museumsandstuff:

Leonardo da Vinci: How accurate were his anatomy drawings?

Click through for more pictures and a video of an interview with Martin Clayton, Senior Curator of the Royal Collection. 

(via museumsandstuff)