STUDY ON FOLIOS A OF THE "ANATOMY"

...speaking of his anatomical observations. Let us therefore hurry to reach his research into human anatomy, the subject of the present publication ⁷).

In a previous study ⁸) I attempted to demonstrate that in Greek and Roman antiquity, true studies of human anatomy were not conducted; that neither the artists nor the doctors of that time had dissected the human body. Greek sculptors had reached a marvelous knowledge of forms through the constant contemplation of the nude in action during exercises and wrestling in the gymnasium; however, the reason for these external forms remained unknown to them. In their representation of man, they spoke—with admirable correctness—a language they knew empirically, but without knowing its rules or syntax. I mean to say that for the artists of antiquity, knowledge of plastic forms was like a mother tongue, which one can possess without having apparently learned it, because its teaching was a work of every moment. But when, after a long sleep, the plastic arts reawakened in an environment where gymnasium exercises, the cult of strength and athletic beauty, and everything that could form an unconscious—so to speak—anatomical education had disappeared,

this education had to be supplemented, drawing inspiration on one hand from the masterpieces of antiquity and learning, on the other, to interpret them through the study of the organism of the human body. The Greeks had known only morphology The study of the external form and structure of organisms.; it was necessary to perform anatomy, which is to say that this knowledge had to be acquired like one acquires the knowledge of a dead language, learned laboriously through grammar and the reading of great authors. In this case, the great authors are the masterpieces of Greek sculpture, and the grammar is the anatomical analysis of the human body by means of dissection The practice of cutting open a body to study its internal parts for scientific inquiry..

7. Numerous studies have been published on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical notes, both from a general perspective and on specific issues; besides those already cited above, we shall mention: L. Choulant, History and Bibliography of Anatomical Illustrations original: "Geschichte und Bibliographie der anatomischen Abbildungen", etc. Leipzig, 1852. — F. Raab, Leonardo da Vinci as a Natural Scientist original: "Leonardo da Vinci als Naturforscher". Berlin, 1880. — C. Langer, Leonardo da Vinci, the First to Depict the Correct Position of the Human Pelvis original: "Leonardo da Vinci, der erste Darsteller der richtigen Lage des menschlichen Beckens" (Reports of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna original: "Sitzgsber. d. Kaiserl. Akad. d. Wiss. in Wien"; 1867). — Alessandro Lanzillotti-Buonsanti, Leonardo da Vinci’s Anatomical Thought in Relation to Art original: "Il pensiero anatomico di Leonardo da Vinci in rapporto all' arte". Milan, 1897.
8. The Anatomy of the Masters; History of Plastic Anatomy original: "L'Anatomie des maîtres; Histoire de l'anatomie plastique", by Mathias-Duval and Albert Bical. Paris, 1890.