My topic is on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings, and exploring why he presented the human body as a machine during a time that celebrated humanity and the natural human form. I argue that da Vinci did not intend to distort the human form, but wished to provide a different perspective on it. I looked at the anatomical drawings of da Vinci, as well as his writing on anatomy. As well, I included the drawings and writings of Andreas Vesalius in my analysis of da Vinci’s drawings as Vesalius expressed the human body in a very differnt form. In terms of the historiography concerning da Vinci’s drawings the author and compiler of my main source from which I used the drawings, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, wished to represent da Vinci’s anatomy as his evolution as a draftsman. However, a journal article from 2012 by Domenico Laurenza aligns with my argument in that he believes that da Vinci’s drawings very much align with the science of kinetics and motion. In the end this topic is significant because it shows that da Vinci did not accidentally or purposefully try to distort or ruin human anatomy as a field, but rather wished to provide a unique perspective.
Background image: A.E. Popham The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci (London: Random House, 1946), 244-245.