Hello all! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This is Episode 3 of my, Elizabeth McCurdy, web project! Feel free to email me with any questions or comments! Also, feel free to check out my Project homepage to get an overall feel for what I'm trying to do here! Episode 3: Once, Twice, Three Times a Man  [1] There is an old saying about how everything is just a matter of degrees and that it is up to you to distinguish between right and wrong or good and bad. In keeping with that line of thinking, there is good, there is better, and above all there is the best. Now, so far this semester our class has studied some good scientists and mathematicians, and we have studied even more great ones but above everyone else stands Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance man. One must look very hard to find an area of science (and I am using that term in its broadest sense as to include chemistry, physics, astronomy, astrology, etc) or mathematics, or the arts that he did not cover in his numerous years of research and application. Obviously known the world over for his unmistakable and period defining paintings. The height of Renaissance art coincides with the time in which da Vinci was painting and many may not know that it was his extensive work with anatomy that allowed da Vinci to paint in such a masterful and flawless manner. But never mind with work with a brush, it is his extensive work in the area of anatomy that will be the focus of this episode.  [2] Leonardo’s knowledge of the human body began during and apprenticeship to Andrea del Verrocchio who required that his students learned anatomy (Leonardo da Vinci). Since da Vinci was always foremost an artist, he quickly took to drawing many anatomical features, topographic anatomy as it is now called (Leonardo da Vinci). And since da Vinci was such a master at drawing what he saw, he was soon allowed to start dissecting human corpses at local hospitals (Leonardo da Vinci). Every dissection, every drawing, every diagram and every analysis of everything he saw went into a notebook. Obviously, these notebooks have become as famous as his paintings and have, in recent years, become the topic for an enormous about of debate and discussion. As one author noted “One of the most striking features of the notebooks is the manner in which Leonardo presents his work. There is effectively no criticism of shortcomings in earlier authors, nor boasting of his own accomplishments. Indeed his style is in the form of a teaching manual with descriptions written as advice: how one must proceed if one wishes to carry out these tasks oneself. These are the not the egocentric scribblings of an isolated, genial misfit. "They are attempts to convey to a larger public a new method of presentation” (Veltman). This just goes to show that as much of anego da Vinci was said to have it apparently stopped short of interfering in his studies and teachings.  [3]Is it even possible to compare someone to Leonardo da Vinci? He is not only cemented in time as one of the absolute best and most influential painters of all time but he also blazed nearly impossible trails in the field of medicine and anatomy. For example, da Vinci’s most famous painting (and arguable the most famous and recognizable paintings of all time) the Mona Lisa contained brilliantly accurately human anatomy along with his signature brown, smoky, geological background. Leonardo is not a minor player in history, he didn’t do just a few things, he didn’t limit himself to just the study or practice of one thing but instead he did almost everything. He studied, engineered, designed, invented, painted, sculpted, dissected and much more and in the process of all of this he gained a title that fits no other person which is that of a Renaissance man. He is one of the most brilliant men of all time but even more impressive than everything he did was the fact that he never seemed to stop trying to learn and discover and improve universal knowledge. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ References: Veltman, Dr. Kim H.. "Leonardo da Vinci: Studies of the Human Body and Principles of Anatomy." MMI Development. MMI Development. 27 Oct 2008 <http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/articles/leonardo/Lenardo%20da%20Vinci%20Studies%20of%20the%20Human%20Nody%20and%20Prinicples%20of%20Anatomy.html>. "Leonardo da Vinci." Wikipedia. 2008. Wikipedia. 27 Oct 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci#Anatomy>. da Vinci, Leonardo. The Complete Notebooks. 1st. Debus, Allen. Man and Nature in the Renaissance. 1st. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978. Notes: 1. I used a translation of da Vinci’s notebooks as my primary source. His notebooks contained the vast majority of his anatomy research and drawings. 2. My secondary source meets criteria #1 and #2 as stated on the episode requirements page. Images: [1] Self Portrait website: The Drawings of Leonardo weblink: http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/images/self.jpg [2] Female website: The Drawing of Leonardo weblink: http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/images/female.jpg [3] Shoulder and Neckwebsite: The Drawings of Leonardo weblink: http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/images/shoulderandneck1.jpg |