Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath who lived during the Renaissance period from 1452 to 1519. He made numerous contributions in various fields including painting, anatomy, engineering, and cartography. As an anatomist, da Vinci dissected corpses and drew detailed diagrams of the human body, including the heart, muscles, and fetus in the womb. His accurate anatomical drawings expanded knowledge well beyond what was known in ancient times and helped lay the foundations for modern medicine. Though his work was not published in his lifetime, da Vinci's anatomical drawings demonstrated his systematic approach and helped transform European understanding of human anatomy.
2. INDEX
1. Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
2. Time period
3. Contributions. Painting
3.1. Anatomy
3.2. Engineering and inventions
3.3. Geometry
3.4. Cartography
4. Ancient anatomical knowledge. Egypt
4.1. Greece
4.2. Galen
4.3.India
3. Index
5. Da Vinci time's anatomical knowledge
6. Da Vinci's methods and knowledge's expansion
7. Anatomical conclusions
8. Recently found drawings
9. Anatomical drawing comparison
10. Webgraphy
4. 1. Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
• He was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect,
musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor,
anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist,
and writer. He is considered a Renaissance
Man because he could do almost everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CRX_
mqpzdU
5. 2. Time period
• He lived in the Renaissance period, a cultural
movement from the 14th to the 17th century
beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and
later spreading to the rest of Europe. Leonardo da
Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was born in
the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the territory of
the Medici-ruled Republic of Florence.
Vinci, Italy
6. 3. Contributions. Painting
• SFUMATO: painting technique in which there
are no harsh outlines, and it is painted with full
strokes that enhance color and light.
• CHIAROSCURO: use of strong contrasts
between light and dark, usually bold contrasts
affecting a whole composition.
-- Sfumato
Chiaroscuro--
7. 3.1. Anatomy
• He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex
organs and other internal organs, making one
of the first scientific drawings of a fetus in a
uterus, as well as the human skeleton and
muscles. He dissected cows, birds, monkeys
and frogs, comparing in his drawings their
anatomical structure to that of humans.
8. 3.2. Engineering and invention
• He designed musical instruments, bridges and
hydraulics, war machines, flying machines, ...
9. 3.3. Geometry
• Leonardo helped in the production of a book
called "De divina proportione" about
mathematical and artistic proportion. Leonardo
prepared a series of drawings of regular solids
in a skeletal form to be engraved as plates.
Truncated icosahedron
10. 3.4. Cartography
• Leonardo produced several extremely accurate
maps employing a technique called
cartographic perspective.
Leonardo's accurate map of
Imola for Cesare Borgia.
11. 4. Ancient anatomical knowledge
• EGYPT (1600 BC): the heart, its vessels, liver,
spleen, kidneys, hypothalamus, uterus and
bladder were recognized, and the blood vessels
were known to come from the heart.
12. 4.1. GREECE (460 - 377 BC):
• Basic understanding of musculoskeletal
structure and certain organs like the kidneys.
Hippocrates was the first to discover the
tricuspid valve of the heart and its function. To
identify the difference between arteries and
veins, and the relations between organs.
Beginning of animal dissection.
Hippocrates Aristotle
13. 4.2. GALEN (2nd century)
• The major anatomist of ancient times was
Galen. He studied the function of organs by
performing vivisection on animals.
Galen of Pergamon Frog’s vivisection
14. 4.3. INDIA (3rd and 4th century)
• Description of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal
plants and a detailed study on anatomy.
Sushruta Samhita
15. 5. Da Vinci time anatomical knowledge
• Dissected corpses contributed to the accurate
description of organs and the identification of
their functions. Leonardo did many studies of
the human skeleton and its parts, as well as
muscles and sinews. He drew the heart and
vascular system, the sex organs and other
internal organs, making one of the first
scientific drawings of a fetus in utero.
16. 6. Da Vinci's methods and knowledge expansion
• Like a true modern scientist, Leonardo used
systematic observations, along with logical
reasoning, experimentation and mathematical
concepts to describe accurately the anatomical
theories and satisfy his curiosity. Therefore
Leonardo could expand and understand human
anatomy.
17. 7. Anatomical conclusions
• Leonardo worked past and knew that there was
much to learn from not only the outside of the
human body but also the inside to truly
understanding of what happens to the body in
certain situations. Due to his studies, other
fields of medicine have expanded knowledge
from his basis of work.
18. 8. Recently found drawings
• Leonardo tried to publish his amazing work in
a treatise on anatomy, and his discoveries
would have transformed European knowledge
of the subject. But on Leonardo’s death in
1519 the drawings remained a mass of
undigested material among his private papers
and their significance was effectively lost to
the world for almost 400 years.
19. 9. ANATOMICAL DRAWING COMPARISON
http://www.touchpress.com/titles/leonardo-da-vinci-anatomy/
Nowadays we know that in the final stages of the pregnancy the foetus is
usually upside-down (you can also point at the umbilical cord, that provides
nutrients and oxygen to the baby). Another peculiar characteristic of da Vinci’s
drawing is that the uterus has a completely round shape like a cocoon, now we
centainly know that the human uterus has a different shape.