LEONARDO & ANATOMY

Leonardo is best known for his paintings, but he was also a prolific draughtsman and polymath interested in anatomy, mechanics and many other subjects. The twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus, started in 1478, includes sketches of inventions from flying machines to hydraulic pumps. By the early 1500s, Leonardo was famous throughout Europe, and the commission to produce the Battle of Anghiari in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio turned into a competition with Michelangelo who was tasked with producing a companion piece, the Battle of Cascina. Neither fresco survives but preparatory drawings provide tantalising glimpses. Leonardo’s numerous anatomical drawings follow Alberti who recommended that artists construct the human figure from the skeleton and musculature outwards. Vasari suggested that Antonio del Pollaiuolo – whom Leonardo probably met during his apprenticeship with Verrocchio - was one of the first artists to undertake anatomical investigations. Michelangelo was also interested, as we see in works such as his Three Studies of a Leg. The study of anatomy would become part of the artist’s curriculum over the course of the next century.