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Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) spent over twenty-five years investigating the workings of the human body. While his paintings were widely known in his day, only a few friends and associates had any intimation of the extent of his medical research. Leonardo's "Anatomical Manuscript A," created over the winter of 1510-11, is the only group of such drawings in which he approached complete coverage of the human form, and it represents his finest work in this area.
This fascinating book presents a complete discussion of all the drawings in Manuscript A, not only as evidence of Leonardo's artistic genius, but also as the product of the sophisticated scientific investigations they represent. Each drawing records a meticulous human dissection and is extensively annotated with Leonardo's notes, questions, and memoranda to himself in "mirror-writing," (backward writing legible only when held up to a mirror, the motivations for which have been the subject of much speculation).
Each drawing is reproduced twice: once in its original form and once with a new English translation in place of Leonardo's original notes. The authors comment on the accuracy of the anatomical renderings and the conclusions Leonardo draws from them.
This fascinating book presents a complete discussion of all the drawings in Manuscript A, not only as evidence of Leonardo's artistic genius, but also as the product of the sophisticated scientific investigations they represent. Each drawing records a meticulous human dissection and is extensively annotated with Leonardo's notes, questions, and memoranda to himself in "mirror-writing," (backward writing legible only when held up to a mirror, the motivations for which have been the subject of much speculation).
Each drawing is reproduced twice: once in its original form and once with a new English translation in place of Leonardo's original notes. The authors comment on the accuracy of the anatomical renderings and the conclusions Leonardo draws from them.
- GenresArt
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 8, 2020
Futuristic creative genius...
February 13, 2024
“Leonardo’s projected treatise on painting was to encompass every subject that would enable an artist to produce works that were “true to nature”. It’s potential scope was huge, and it led him into a whole series of investigations into the appearance of the physical world, including optics, geology, botany, and hydraulics, and most significantly into the principle subject matter of the Renaissance artist, the human body. Soon Leonardo conceived the idea of writing a separate treatise on anatomy; and though this, like the treatise in painting, was never completed, his anatomical studies came to be the most sustained and brilliant of his many scientific researches.
Leonardo’s early anatomical studies were rather unfocused, for he wished to explain every aspect of the human body—not just structural anatomy, but also conception and growth, the expression of the emotions, the nature of senses, and so on.”
I like to believe that it wasn’t so much that Leonardo was “disorganized” as many choose to believe, but that he allowed his insatiable curiosity to guide him in his quest for “truth”. I believe his true goal was to learn truth. So what looks like “going down the rabbit hole” to some, is actually demonstrative of his pure method of following truth. Had he ignored discoveries along the way, it would have been like ignoring revealed truth.
Leonardo’s early anatomical studies were rather unfocused, for he wished to explain every aspect of the human body—not just structural anatomy, but also conception and growth, the expression of the emotions, the nature of senses, and so on.”
I like to believe that it wasn’t so much that Leonardo was “disorganized” as many choose to believe, but that he allowed his insatiable curiosity to guide him in his quest for “truth”. I believe his true goal was to learn truth. So what looks like “going down the rabbit hole” to some, is actually demonstrative of his pure method of following truth. Had he ignored discoveries along the way, it would have been like ignoring revealed truth.
February 11, 2019
Lol who do I think I am for rating this 3 stars. Honestly I just wish it was longer. 🤷🏼♀️
It was a really practical and efficient way of educating myself about the form of the (male)body, and by using it as a reference when drawing I got to learn new ways to look at the movement of form too.
I didn’t read it word for word, but used it as a reference mainly for artistic purposes and noted some important points he made as well.
It was a really practical and efficient way of educating myself about the form of the (male)body, and by using it as a reference when drawing I got to learn new ways to look at the movement of form too.
I didn’t read it word for word, but used it as a reference mainly for artistic purposes and noted some important points he made as well.
February 10, 2018
Este libro me hizo pensar mucho! Las cosas que debió hacer Leonardo para dibujar todo lo que hacia, la gente de su tiempo lo tildaba de genio, sin duda!! pero el detalle de sus dibujas es una prueba fehaciente del poder de la observación!
January 27, 2015
Pretty Impressive , Informative and easy to read..
unfolds some untold stories of a Genius!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews