Investigations and Anatomy

In accordance to being a true “Renaissance Man”, Leonardo da Vinci exercised his inquisitiveness, aptitude, and innovation in science; particularly in the discipline of Anatomy.  Da Vinci truly made use of his favored empirical method in investigating the human body, as well as plants and animals, when he dissected and performed autopsies on an estimated 30 bodies. 

The purpose of his anatomical studies was to investigate the anatomy and physiology in birth, life, and death and to discover and record his findings for an accurate understanding of anatomical knowledge.  As he performed his dissections, he drew 3-dimensional artistic images with annotated notes by candlelight.  Leonardo da Vinci collected his records and drawings for his Treatise of Anatomy.  Unfortunately, it was never published before Leonardo’s death in 1519.  Confirmed by modern technology such as CT scans and MRIs, Da Vinci’s unfinished treatise proved his unprecedented farsightedness in sciences illustrated by his innovative drawing techniques depicting accurate movement and physiology of the human body.    

The Vituvian Man was how Leonardo Da Vinci understood the proportions of the human body. These ideas and thoughts were not from Leonardo Da Vinci, they were from a Roman architect named Vitruvius. He drew a male figure that had a circle and a square around him to clearly measure the body and dynamic. Leonardo took these ideas to try and discover more about the structure of the body.

 

The Vituvian Man 

 

“Leonardo da Vinci’s embryological drawings of the fetus in the womb and his accompanying observational annotations are found in the third volume of his private notebooks” (Gilson).

Embryo in the Womb

The studies and drawings of the fetus illustrate where it is located in the uterus. “Leonardo first ventured into human anatomy with the purpose of depicting the human body more accurately in his artwork” (Gilson).  His illustrations were quite accurate with the help and knowledge of being able to examine a real human body.  

 

 

 

 

                                                                                         

 

Heart

Leonardo Da Vinci was the first known to have discovered the cause of heart disease.  In performing his autopsy investigations, Da Vinci exposed build up, known to us as cholesterol, in the vessels of the heart which disrupted normal blood flow prohibiting proper functions of the heart.   

 

 

 

 

 

Brain

 
Leonardo Da Vinci was a pioneer in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology discovering meningeal vessels, sensory input, and cavities and sinuses of the brain.  He was the first to construct a cast of a body structure when he injected hot was into the brain of an ox.  This gave Da Vinci a detailed mold of the brain which portrayed detailed configurations.   














Authors: Karen Brown & Meg Heppner