Some scholars believe that Leonardo’s depictions of a fetus in the womb are among the most beautiful work he ever produced. It’s simple and profound, especially for its time. His anatomical studies could have transformed medical science, but he never published them. The world had to wait for Andreas Vesalius and Jan Stephan van Calcar to produce their own book, De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem aka On the Fabric of the Human Body.
So let’s talk about his studies of the human heart. Leonardo was one of the first people to realise the central role of the heart in the blood system. It took modern science 400 years to catch up to his theory for how the way the aortic valve works.
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Leonardo continues his dissections, becomes obsessed with how lips, tongues and mouths work, makes a wax model of the human brain, and wonders about the tongue of the woodpecker.
Leonardo dissected the corpse of a 100 year old man which started his second round of anatomical studies which lasted for the next five years. Autopsies and dissections were just becoming popular again and Leonardo made his own anatomical discoveries which revolutionised the understanding of various diseases.
There were plenty of reasons Leonardo preferred to be in Milan – royal patrons, pageants, parties, scientists… and the chance to build a robot lion.
While he was in Milan in 1507, Leonardo met a 14 year old boy. Leo became his guardian, teacher, adoptive father, and employer. And it’s because of that boy, Francesco Melzi, that we have Leonardo’s notebooks.
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