Leonardo da Vinci - Corpus of the Anatomical Studies

Leonardo da Vinci - Corpus of the Anatomical Studies

The study of a hand with its tendons and bones, the state of an unborn fetus in the womb of the mother, the allocation of organs in the human abdomen or a male body with the fascinating play of muscles under the skin: all of that and more were themes that Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) studied and recorded in numerous masterful drawings. These findings fascinated the universal genius from both a naturalistic and artistic perspective, helping him on the other hand by developing the human body in his masterful sculptures and paintings.

An Important Aspect of the Masterwork

A grandiose bundle of anatomical studies can be found in Windsor Castle’s impressive collection of Leonardo drawings. 400 drawings from a 30 year period – from 1483 to 1513 – were chosen for the selection at hand. Arranged chronologically, the sheets allow one to understand the development of the drawings from morphological to physiological studies and simultaneously give a wonderful overview of Leonardo’s graphic works.

The Human Body as a Whole and in Detail

Alongside the famous full-body depictions of a human with a glimpse of the inside of the body, with the routes of the blood vessels, the layout of the organs, the construction of the skeleton, and the interplay of the bones are treated in numerous depictions of individual parts of the body as well – e.g. the head or the foot. Thus, for example, one finds a study sheet of the hand in the bundle, which is covered all over with notes and drawings, which wonderfully emphasizes Leonardo’s passion with this work. With accurate, almost medical precision, the universal genius pursued systematic studies of the human body, which are presented in the collection at hand. The bundle of anatomical studies was appended with preliminary studies of the Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper, a few landscapes, caricatures, and other figurative representations.