May 2, 2012 - He is already recognised as one of the best artists of the Renaissance period.
Now a spectacular new exhibition at Buckingham Palace demonstrates how Leonardo da Vinci was also one of the most ground-breaking anatomists of all time.
Indeed his findings dating from the late 1490s and early 1500s were so revolutionary that some could not be conclusively proved until finally the development of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners in the 1980s, which use radio waves to consider in depth photos of the entire body.
Da Vinci's fascination with the human physique started through his need to be 'true to nature' in his paintings and led him to embark on what can only be described as a campaign of dissection in hospitals and health-related schools all through Florence.
A lot of of the corpses he worked on had been the bodies of executed criminals or these who had no family members to claim them for burial.
He had hoped to publish his findings in a treatise on anatomy and had he accomplished so, his discoveries would have transformed European knowledge on the subject.
But on his death in 1519, his notes and drawings remained hidden away amongst his mass of private papers and efficiently lost to the world for 400 years.
Arguably his best investigations concentrate on the workings of the heart - and the artist came tantalisingly close to finding the science behind the circulation of blood, a century prior to it was officially attained.
Now a spectacular new exhibition at Buckingham Palace demonstrates how Leonardo da Vinci was also one of the most ground-breaking anatomists of all time.
Indeed his findings dating from the late 1490s and early 1500s were so revolutionary that some could not be conclusively proved until finally the development of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners in the 1980s, which use radio waves to consider in depth photos of the entire body.
Da Vinci's fascination with the human physique started through his need to be 'true to nature' in his paintings and led him to embark on what can only be described as a campaign of dissection in hospitals and health-related schools all through Florence.
A lot of of the corpses he worked on had been the bodies of executed criminals or these who had no family members to claim them for burial.
He had hoped to publish his findings in a treatise on anatomy and had he accomplished so, his discoveries would have transformed European knowledge on the subject.
But on his death in 1519, his notes and drawings remained hidden away amongst his mass of private papers and efficiently lost to the world for 400 years.
Arguably his best investigations concentrate on the workings of the heart - and the artist came tantalisingly close to finding the science behind the circulation of blood, a century prior to it was officially attained.
Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/Leonardo_da_Vinc_24_drawings_kept__secret_now_revealed_at_exhibition/84926#ixzz1uHzfszLB
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