For artists and students alike, da Vinci's anatomical drawings are a yardstick for artistic and medical depictions of the body
Leonardo da Vinci created many of the most beautiful and important drawings in the history of Western art. His anatomical drawings became the yardstick for the early study of the human body. From their unique perspectives as artist and scientist, brothers Stephen and Michael Farthing analyze Leonardo’s drawings—which are concerned chiefly with the skeletal, cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems—and discuss the impact they had on both art and medical understanding.
In addition, Stephen has created a series of drawings in response to Leonardo, which are reproduced with commentary by Michael, who also provides a useful glossary of medical terminology. Together, they reveal how some of Leonardo’s leaps of understanding were nothing short of revolutionary and, despite some misunderstandings, attest to the accuracy of his grasp.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was born in Florence and studied with the renowned painter Verrocchio, qualifying as a “master” at the age of 20 in 1472. After his apprenticeship he worked for Ludovico il Moro, later moving to Rome, Bologna and Venice before settling in France, where his final three years were spent in the service of François I.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Leonardo da Vinci: Under the Skin.'
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More than 500 years ago Leonardo da Vinci produced a body of astonishing anatomical drawings, heavily annotated with his own methodical observations. Remarkably precise, nuanced and delicate, yet scientifically searching, these drawings remain fundamental to our understanding of the artist and his uninhibited search for knowledge. This image, depicting the layers of the scalp and cerebral ventricles, is reproduced from the Royal Academy's fascinating new study, Leonardo da Vinci: Under the Skin, published on the five-hundredth anniversary of the artist's death. "Probably made in three distinct layers, this tonal line drawing uses two very different weights of line to differentiate, in an essentially diagrammatic rendering, what for Leonardo was primary and secondary information," Stephen and Michael Farthing write. "In the first layer, he will have mapped out the full image in red chalk. In the second he will have given focus through a more precise and emphatic ink overdrawing that leaves the un-inked areas to be read as secondary information. Then in the final layer, he uses both image and text to introduce the sectioned onion as an object for comparison. By giving the drawings a very specific weighting that casts the cerebral ventricles at its center as secondary information, he allows what is essentially the frame—his comparison of the layers of the scalp to an onion—to become the focus." continue to blog
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FORMAT: Hbk, 6.75 x 9 in. / 96 pgs / 60 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $27.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $39.95 ISBN: 9781912520091 PUBLISHER: Royal Academy of Arts AVAILABLE: 3/19/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Royal Academy of Arts. By Stephen Farthing, Michael Farthing.
For artists and students alike, da Vinci's anatomical drawings are a yardstick for artistic and medical depictions of the body
Leonardo da Vinci created many of the most beautiful and important drawings in the history of Western art. His anatomical drawings became the yardstick for the early study of the human body. From their unique perspectives as artist and scientist, brothers Stephen and Michael Farthing analyze Leonardo’s drawings—which are concerned chiefly with the skeletal, cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems—and discuss the impact they had on both art and medical understanding.
In addition, Stephen has created a series of drawings in response to Leonardo, which are reproduced with commentary by Michael, who also provides a useful glossary of medical terminology. Together, they reveal how some of Leonardo’s leaps of understanding were nothing short of revolutionary and, despite some misunderstandings, attest to the accuracy of his grasp.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was born in Florence and studied with the renowned painter Verrocchio, qualifying as a “master” at the age of 20 in 1472. After his apprenticeship he worked for Ludovico il Moro, later moving to Rome, Bologna and Venice before settling in France, where his final three years were spent in the service of François I.
