My favorite Chapter in this book was on The Anatomy.
Leonardo has a fascination with the anatomy of life. Anatomy was his
strongest achievement in the 1400s. In the beginnings of his anatomical
research the church was against him and felt that is was wrong and was only for
god to view. He used his knowledge of anatomy to build paintings from the
inside out. This anatomical rendering gave his figures life and emotion. His
study of the human skull or the universal symbol of mortality showed many
things from anatomy to the way the brain works. He discovered that the soul was
actually in the brain and not the body itself. He used dead copses to study the
inner anatomy of people. He created the Vitruvian Man, a drawing that shows the
comparisons of body proportions in an ideal man. This may have been self
portrait also showing The Vitruvian Mans confident understanding of anatomy.
Leonardo's interest in anatomy and the understanding of it is very inspiring to
me as an artist. His understanding of how the body worked and the science behind
it is genius. Especially during such an early period in human history. How
could one man make so many scientifically correct discoveries without much
background knowledge at all? His Early discoveries in anatomy and science have
changed the medical world significantly and most of what he discovered is true
to this day. ~S.STEIN
Shae, thank you for your itnerest in anatomy. Please include page nos from Nicholl in your post; otherwise the comments on anatomy may well have come from some other source. Also PLEASE avoid the expression hat something Is "genius." Genius is a noun, not an adjective. Thank you. Just how does Leonardo prove that the soul is in the brain? Explain?
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the way he documents anatomy was very interesting too. It's amazing to see how he does it so methodically and scientifically. I think anyone could learn to paint like him if they studied as much as he did. It's weird to think about the relationship between art and science, I'd never really thought about it like that before until after seeing all of Leonardo's drawings. Almost as if you just take the time to study something to such a large extent than maybe you can understand it enough to paint it like Leonardo.
ReplyDeleteThis was part of my reading pages also- but I chose to pursue other topics.. The soul was an interesting one. He determined that it was "common sense" that was our soul. I dont remember specifically, but it had something to do with the common sense being the control center for all the 5 senses. And that the common sense was found in the center of the brain between sensation and memory, close to the eyes(?). I feel like this was one of his projects in which he used his strong interest in anatomy- how the body systems work- and readings from philosophers and physicians to determine his conclution that the soul was in the brain.
ReplyDeleteObviously his anatomical studies contributed to his skill as a sculptor and painter, something sorely lacking in students of the same today. I'm not sure if what Leonardo did was "science" (as it is defined by the scientific method) but his detailed observations and applications of the same are surely inspired feats of design and engineering.
ReplyDeleteSorry, the pages that were of the most interest to me were 241-247 in the book and that section was about his Anatomical studies. Also I apologize for my terrible grammar I am a Design student and I am not the greatest writer. He didn't confirm that the soul resided in the Brain in the reading. He says that that it was not spread throughout the body as many people of that time had thought. He said that the soul resides in one spot. Because if the soul was common in every part, there would have been no need to make the organs of the mind join. He was confident that if we had a soul (our common sense and thought process) that it was located in one central location rather than mysteriously scattered throughout the body. I would like to find a book that goes more in depth on his discoveries and experiments with the Human body, in order to completely see how he conducted his research.
ReplyDeleteI'm not clear about what you mean by "I'm not sure if what Leonardo did was "science?" If we take the definition of the scientific method into consideration, than he definitely was doing science through observation, research, forming a a hypothesis, experimentation, and then communicating his conclusion through his drawings and artwork.
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