Leonardo documented an experiment injecting molten wax into the brain’s ventricles, letting it set, and then dissecting to reveal their form—an early example of using a setting medium to model internal anatomy.
Leonardo recorded the two-horned uterus of a gravid cow with explanatory notes, work that fed into his later investigations of reproduction and comparative anatomy.
Leonardo’s anatomical work in these years included studies of the head’s neuroanatomy (including cranial nerves), reflecting his shift toward more systematic mapping of structures beyond surface anatomy.
In a single, complex sheet, Leonardo combined observations from human dissection, inherited anatomical ideas, and animal analogies to depict the cardiovascular system and principal organs of a woman; he also pricked the sheet for transfer as a template.
Leonardo’s notes from this period indicate an intention to complete his anatomical project during the coming winter, underscoring how he conceived the work as a coherent, publishable inquiry rather than isolated sketches.
Leonardo’s intensive human-dissection drawings focusing on bones and musculature—later grouped as “Anatomical Manuscript A”—were produced during the winter of 1510–1511, integrating mechanical reasoning with exceptionally clear visual analysis.
A representative sheet from the 1510–11 dissection campaign shows multiple views of the leg’s bones and joints on the recto and studies of shoulder/neck musculature on the verso, exemplifying Leonardo’s multi-angle “mechanics of man” approach.
The anatomist Marcantonio della Torre—associated in sources with Leonardo’s anatomical work around 1510–1511—died in 1511, an event often cited as a reason their intended anatomy publication did not materialize.
Leonardo created his famous fetus-in-utero sheet during his renewed focus on embryology and reproduction, synthesizing observations from animal and human investigation within a single explanatory drawing.
Leonardo analyzed how swirling blood flow helps close the aortic valve, using diagrams and extensive notes; this work shows his characteristic fusion of anatomy with hydraulics and mechanical reasoning.
Accounts of Leonardo’s heart investigations in the early-to-mid 1510s emphasize his use of engineering-style experimentation (including modeling approaches) to link structure to function in unprecedented detail.
Leonardo spent his last years in France and died in 1519; despite the scale and sophistication of his anatomical and scientific drawings, he did not bring an anatomy treatise to publication in his lifetime.
Leonardo's anatomical and scientific drawings in the High Renaissance (1508–1519)
