Drawing inspiration from Leonardo

Abstract

I remember the dismay I felt, aged 16 years, when it seemed I would have to give up art at A level—it clashed with physics. But I loved them both. Leonardo's unityThis issue of The Lancet marks 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci on May 2, 1519, and through a range of papers, we hope to convey the breadth of Leonardo's thinking and to illustrate some of his lasting impact on understanding the body, science, and humanity. Full-Text PDF Why and how did Leonardo happen: the Renaissance contextThe period between the end of the 14th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance, is generally seen as marking the passage in Europe from the medieval to the beginning of the modern era. Italy was the cradle of the Renaissance, which eventually spread through Europe and was characterised by a flourishing in the arts, literature, politics, religion, philosophy, and science, and a renewed interest in classical Roman and Greek cultures. Many professionals including artists, architects, physicians, and scientists shaped this unique period by advancing a concept of erudition based on innovative enquiry and humanism with the aim of reawakening a link with antiquity while questioning classical ideas. Full-Text PDF Leonardo da Vinci's studies of the brainLeonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) contributed to the study of the nervous system. His earliest surviving anatomical drawings (circa 1485–93) included studies of the skull, brain, and cerebral ventricles. These works reflected his efforts to understand medieval psychology, including the localisation of sensory and motor functions to the brain. He was also the first to pith a frog, concluding that piercing the spinal medulla causes immediate death. After a 10-year interval in the early 1500s Leonardo resumed his anatomical studies and developed a method to inject hot wax into the ventricular system, creating a cast that showed the shape and extent of the ventricles. Full-Text PDF Leonardo's contributions to human anatomyTowards the end of the 15th century, the science of anatomy was set to become popular. However, it lacked visual canons that were appropriate to its nature as a descriptive science. Images used in schools of medicine were basic topographic schemas that accompanied texts dealing with various topics. Full-Text PDF