A recent article in Nature magazine describes da Vinci’s anatomical studies and the ‘how’ of their being lost to Renaissance science. It makes for really interesting reading in our current climate of concern about both science education and the development of literacy for the 21st century. Martin Clayton writes:
“Leonardo da Vinci is the archetype of the Renaissance man, but since his day he has been seen primarily as a painter who dabbled in the sciences. Leonardo would not have recognized this image: his scientific studies were as important to him as his art. Of all his investigations – which included optics, geology, botany and hydrodynamics – the field that engaged him most was human anatomy.” (314)
A London exhibition, Clayton writes, “will expose the Renaissance master’s staggering medical discoveries, which languished unpublished for centuries.” (314) “The exhibition represents two campaigns of intense work around 1490 and between 1507 and 1513, during which Leonardo dissected around 30 human corpses. He fully intended to publish his findings, and had he done so, he would have transformed the study of anatomy in Europe. Many of the bodily structures that he depicted would not be described for centuries.” (314)