Leonardo da Vinci

Samuel Gomez & Francisco Rubio

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

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

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

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

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--

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.

3.2. Engineering and invention

• He designed musical instruments, bridges and hydraulics, war machines, flying machines, ...

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

3.4. Cartography

• Leonardo produced several extremely accurate maps employing a technique called cartographic perspective.

Leonardo's accurate map of Imola for Cesare Borgia.

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.

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

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

4.3. INDIA (3rd and 4th century)

• Description of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants and a detailed study on anatomy.

Sushruta Samhita

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

10. WEBGRAPHY

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anatomy

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfumato

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennaisance

• http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/leonardo-da-vinci-anatomist