I just love the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and his drawings were his visual recordings of his research. In this fascinating video Martin Clayton, Senior Curator of The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, London, explores three anatomical drawings, and explains how accurate Leonardo’s drawings are. In fact a couple of small cross sections show his experimentation to understand how the blood is pumped through heart valve. this was something not understood by doctors until the 20th century.
I was also fascinated to see how the Gallery has stored such precious documents, allowing both sides of a page to be seen.
Here’s an article in the Guardian about Leonardo’s To Do list. Good to know that even the Great Man had to write such a list. (Should I keep mine for prosperity, do you think?!)
This is another find on Open Culture, a site that is just beginning to reveal its fascinations to me.
Anne Lawson Art 
3 replies on “Anatomical drawings of Leonardo”
I’ve loved Leonardo since I was a teen, but mostly as an artist. Now I’m gobsmacked at his genius in the sciences as well. To think that he was 400? years ahead of most other scientists in working out the functioning of the heart?? Absolutely incredible.
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It is mind blowing, isn’t it? And reminds me that information is only taken up when there is a need. Another example is that Romans knew about steam engines. However, as their society was based on slave labour they didn’t see a need for mechanisation. No one took the invention further, and it remained as a toy.
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Or a slightly more dark example – the Chinese and gunpowder. They only used it for firecrackers. Makes you wonder how many other fantastical inventions faded into oblivion because of a lack of a perceived ‘need’.
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