Index Introduction.

Anatomy research. Knowledge about human anatomy. Methods. Drawings.

Comparison between nowadays knowledge and Leonardo’s drawings.

INTRODUCTION

Leonardo da Vinci He was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer,

mathematician, inventor, anatomist, cartographer, geologist, botanist and writer.

He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all times and perhaps the most diversely talented person to have ever lived.

In Leonardo’s manuscripts specular writing was used, which consists of writing in the opposite direction, from right to left, so that it is only recognizable if it is reflexed on a mirror (writing in left-handed mirror script)

Leonardo’s life

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on the 15th of April 1452, in Vinci (Toscana, Italy).

He died on the 2nd of May 1519, in France, when he was 67 years old.

He studied with the famous painter Andrea de Verrocchio, and then he worked with Ludovico Sforza. He worked around different Italian cities and he spent his last years in France, invited by Francisco I.

Contributions Art:

Quattrocento: tridimensional representation system.

Sfumato: technique consisting of the difumination of

the outlines.

Really famous pictures as The Last Supper, The

Gioconda or The Vitruvio Man.

Science: studies about the flight of the birds, the

movement of water or turbulences.

Medicine: studies about human anatomy (bones, muscles,

the heart…) and about animal anatomy (cows, birds,

monkeys, bears, frogs and horses)

Engineering: flying machine, parachute, future helicopter…

ANATOMY RESEARCH

Anatomy before Leonardo´s studies

Little was known about anatomy until Leonardo, because in that time dissections of human bodies were not allowed so nobody knew anything about anatomy. The Inquisition persecuted whoever tried to research about human or animal anatomy.

Leonardo’s knowledge about anatomyHis anatomical training started when he was working with Andrea del Verrochio, studying the external parts of the human body. Later, with the approval of several Italian hospitals, he practised the dissection of corpses. Working conditions were very bad because of hygiene and the conservation of the bodies. In 1510, together with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre, they collected several studies about anatomy with more than two hundred drawings made by Leonardo.

Expansion and understanding of his studies

The studies about human anatomy were a great step for knowledge and thanks to them many things have been discovered about our body, that without Leonardo wouldn’t have been possible. For example, he discovered how blood passes constantly through all the human body, carrying nutrients to every part and collecting waste products. He also made incredible studies about the muscles and valves of the heart.

MethodsFirst, he made dissections of the corpses of criminals very discreetly, avoiding the action of the Inquisition. Later, when he began to be famous, some hospitals offered him human bodies for his research. After the dissections, he fixed his conclusions in amazing drawings, that were kept together in a notebook.

DrawingsThe drawings were discovered recently because Leonardo gave his notebooks to his student Melzi. When he died, his son sold them to an Italian painter, who saved them all together. The pictures appeared about 1900.

COMPARISON BETWEEN NOWADAYS KNOWLEDGE AND

LEONARDO’S DRAWINGS

Leonardo’s heart

The previous drawing shows different perspertives of the heart. In relation to this organ, Leonardo studied its parts with great accuracy. Moreover, he knew about the valves and blood vessels of the heart.

The blood vessels are perfectly drawn, even coronary ones (coronary vessels supply blood to the heart muscle).

He was capable of studying the structure of the different valves (atrioventricular and sigmoid valves).

Leonardo’s heart

Drawing of a bovine heart, great vessels & bronchial tree: A bovine heart was used for most of his dissections.

Leonardo’s heart

A great drawing of the trachea and heart can be observed (c.1511), as well as the bronchi and bronchioles. He wrote about the action of the heart and the effects of respiration in the trachea around the drawing.

Leonardo’s heart

This sketch shows the four cavities of the heart: two atria and two ventricles. He knew perfectly its structure, even the way valves work during the cardiac cycle.

Knowledge of the heart nowadays

Knowledge of the heart nowadays

Referring to the bronchi and

bronchioles, Leonardo

represented them almost

perfectly, but nowadays we

know more in detail their

function. The final branches

of the bronchioles lead to a

series of riny sacs, the

pulmonary alveoli, where gas

exchange takes place.

Knowledge of the bronchi and bronchioles nowadays

Other important anatomy discoveries

He made very accurate drawings of bones and muscles (for instance, the structure of the hand). Those drawings show perfectly the structure of tendons, bones and muscles.

He studied the movement of the diaphragm in the respiration and defecation.

One of his most ingenious achievements in anatomy, were wax moulds of the brain ventricles.