Da Vinci the Scientist
c1512 AD
1512 1512
09.10E45.30N
SCI

MILAN, ITALY
	As you can see from this sketch by Leonardo da Vinci of a developing human fetus, he (and other Renaissance artists) was deeply interested in anatomy.
	Why? Well, partly because the Renaissance was a time when knowledge of all kinds was held up for its own sake, and Da Vinci was very much a man of his time. But for Leonardo and many of his fellow artists, there was also a much more practical reason.
	To faithfully depict the human form meant really understanding it, and that meant looking beneath the skin at the muscles and how various parts of the body work together.
	Da Vinci began studying anatomy around 1489 and at one time was allowed to perform dissections at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. The embryo he depicts in this sketch was probably done around 1512 during his stay in Milan, where he may have studied anatomy with Marc Antonio dalla Torre, the finest anatomist of his time. Also, this is probably one of the first pictures ever of a fetus in the womb.