| Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man at Vancouver Art Gallery
By STAN PARCHIN
December 25, 2009
| | Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519). The Muscles of the Leg (fol. 15r) (1510-11). Pen and ink with wash, over traces of black chalk. The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. | 
| | Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519). The Muscles and Tendons of the Lower Leg and Foot (fol. 18r) (1510-11). Pen and ink, over traces of black chalk. The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. |
The Vancouver Art Gallery in British Columbia presents Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man from February 6 to May 2, 2010. In time for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the first-of-a-kind Canadian exhibition features the Italian Renaissance genius' Anatomical Manuscript A (1510-11) from Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.
Leonardo's Interest in the Human Body
The workings of the human body interested inquisitive painter, draftsman and scholar Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) for more than 25 years. With increased access to cadavers later in his career, the polymath appears to have conducted rarely performed dissections of executed criminals and deceased abandoned hospital patients with an unknown scientist from the University of Pavia. During the winter of 1510-11, he recorded his keen scientific observations in 34 pen and ink drawings on 18 sheets of paper that comprise Anatomical Manuscript A. Leonardo's detailed 13,000-word notes were written meticulously in his characteristic mirror-writing, possibly to conceal his findings. His visually compelling studies, known only to a circle of confidantes, were conducted in preparation for a planned treatise on anatomy.
According to Martin Clayton, Deputy Curator of Prints at Windsor Castle and the show's curator, "It is futile to try to enumerate all of the firsts embodied in these drawings. Virtually every drawing is the finest depiction of a particular structure to that date and, in some cases, for several centuries to come."
Anatomical Manuscript A
With more than 240 individual images, Leonardo's remarkable Anatomical Manuscript A focuses on the human body's structures and their movements. Included in its 16 double-sided and two single-sided sheets are the first known pictures of the spinal column as well as the musculature of the lower legs and feet. At the Vancouver Art Gallery, the sheets will be accompanied by large-scale reproductions of Leonardo's drawings, English translations of the artist's observations, computer animations of his various inventions and descriptions of similar investigations from before his time to the 19th Century.
Admission to Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man is free during the XXI Olympic Winter Games (February 12-28, 2010).
Sources
Bambach, Carmen (ed.), et al. Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, 408-415, 539-556, 579-583.
Clayton, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: The Divine and the Grotesque (exh. cat.). London: Royal Collection Enterprises, Ltd., 2002, 10-15, 20-33, 40-49.
_____ and Ronald Philo. Leonardo da Vinci: The Anatomy of Man (exh. cat.). New York and Houston: Bulfinch Press and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1992.
_____. Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man (exh. cat.). Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2010.
Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design (exh. cat.). London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 2006, 50-61, 132-139.
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