Imagine renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo's masterpieces – the Mona Lisa, David, the Sistine Chapel, and now imagine a corpse. Naturally, these two things are very discordant together, but the masters of the Italian Renaissance learned how to create such a realistic and beautiful masterpiece by studying the remains. Renaissance anatomy was a whole new field, and artists were at the forefront. Thus the famous anatomical artists of the time, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, knew more about the anatomy of the human body than most doctors.
The anatomical art of Leonardo da Vinci, shaped the history of medicine for 500 years; Michelangelo's anatomical paintings stripped of skin to understand how muscles worked. But these artists had to work hard to get in touch with corpses — just like other grave robbers in history. Michelangelo would exchange his art for corpses, despite rumors that he was suspected of murder; da Vinci was simpler, waiting directly outside the hospital for the patients to die so he could dissect them fresh.
Of course, these Renaissance artists were involved in dissection for a reason: they wanted to understand the human body so that they could create more amazing works of art. But in this case, can the end be justified by means?
Renaissance artists had to create their masterpieces through the human body
Renaissance artists were obsessed with understanding the human body. Otherwise, how could they have created such a superb work of art? The Renaissance was inspired to recreate the splendor of the classical period, so Renaissance artists began to study ancient sculpture, architecture and painting. Their goal was to develop a style of "scientific naturalism" that could capture the world in a single work of art.
But to understand the mysteries of the human body, artists must be willing to observe through the human body. Many famous Renaissance artists, most notably Michelangelo Bonarotti and Leonardo da Vinci, used a new investigative technique to create their masterpieces.
In order to create a standard human form, Michelangelo and da Vinci turned their sights to corpses
It is undeniable that the Renaissance masters Michelangelo and leonardo da Vinci were not only great artists, they were also experts in anatomy. The central goal of Renaissance art was to create lifelike and stunning human figures, whether sculptures of the Virgin Mary or drawings of war. So in order to create amazing works of art, Michelangelo and da Vinci had to become experts in human anatomy.
But where did they learn the perfect proportions, like Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvius (above)? And how did they accurately capture the muscular structure of the lying Adam's body, as Michelangelo did in the Sistine Chapel? The secret of their success comes from an unusual place: corpses.
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci agreed on this matter: the importance of anatomy
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, both distinguished members of the Florentine Renaissance, had a good relationship overall, despite brief rivalries. By the time Michelangelo appeared in the world of painting, Leonardo da Vinci was already a well-known artist. Early in the development of their relationship, the two clashed when they were commissioned to paint at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
Their artistic skills were vastly different: Da Vinci popularized a style of "blending light and shadow, without idiosyncrasies or signs, like smoke," which he performed best in his Mona Lisa. Michelangelo, on the other hand, used bright colors and sharp lines in his paintings, such as The Holy Family. But they all agree on one thing: in order to create great art, understanding the human body is crucial. So they all turned to dissection to acquire new knowledge.
Michelangelo dissected the corpse in the monastery to learn about anatomy
Michelangelo wanted to be the best sculptor in history – even better than the classical sculptor who inspired the Renaissance. But in order to surpass the Greeks and Romans in sculptural techniques, Michelangelo had to understand human anatomy. Michelangelo tried to gain anatomy from his study of nude models, but he never drew nudes in contrast to Leonardo da Vinci. But painting in life can only reveal so much information about the human body. So to understand what was under the skin, Michelangelo turned his attention to dissection.
At the age of 17, Michelangelo was a guest of the Convent of Santa Maria in Florence. His protector and powerful patron, Lorenzo de' Medici, had just died, and the young Michelangelo began to look for a new path. In Santo Spirito, he began anatomical studies of the corpses of the monastery hospital. As a reward for these anatomy lessons, Michelangelo carved a wooden cross for the altar. Of course, the artist doesn't just paint corpses, he participates in dissections to better understand human form.
Michelangelo exchanged the cross for the study of corpses
In The Life of Michelangelo, Ascano Condivi describes Michelangelo's study of corpses. Condivi reports that SanSpiritu's body "deepened his knowledge more than any previous study." "Through dissection, Michelangelo studied all known animals and performed numerous dissections of human carcasses, more numerous than those of professionals in the field." Thus Michelangelo's act of exchanging crucifixes for corpses was rewarded.
Later in Michelangelo's career, his own physician, Realdo Colombo, asked the artist to draw illustrations for his anatomy textbook Anatomy. Michelangelo refused, however, because he was busy with other projects. Later, through his anatomical studies, Michelangelo was able to capture how the human body works and apply this knowledge to the Sistine Chapel.
Leonardo da Vinci won the crown of the most important artist and anatomist of all time
Michelangelo's study of anatomy was important, but the sculptor tended to stop at muscles because he was primarily trying to understand the shape and appearance of the body. Leonardo da Vinci's anatomy went a step further, earning him the title of the most important artist and anatomist in history. Da Vinci wanted to understand the human body well so that in his artwork, any part or any movement could be captured. He wanted to know the truth about a gesture that meant not only muscles, but bones, tendons, and nerves.
In his detailed study of a large number of human corpses made around 1510, da Vinci created 240 personal paintings and more than 13,000 words of annotations. Today, his collection is known as Manuscript A of Anatomy, and it contains many insights into human anatomy that greatly exceed the medical knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci's time.
Leonardo da Vinci began to draw skulls and continued to study the human body through anatomy
Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical study began in a different way: the human skull. In April 1489, leonardo da Vinci sat in front of a skull and began painting it. But his study of the human body still ran into obstacles, because he could not find a corpse that could be dissected. The lack of autopsy corpses has been a major problem for centuries, such as anatomists like Andreas Vesarius, who even taught their students how to steal corpses to dissect them.
Due to the lack of cadavers, da Vinci abandoned his anatomical studies for many years until 1510. That year, Leonardo da Vinci conducted a series of anatomys with a professor of anatomy named Della Letori, and these works enriched the content of his Anatomic Manuscript A. But when Della Letori died suddenly of the plague in 1511, Leonardo da Vinci had to transfer his research to a small town outside Milan, where he became obsessed with studying the human heart.
Leonardo da Vinci leads medical knowledge for 500 years
During the Renaissance, art and science were intertwined. Leonardo da Vinci may be the best example of this overlap, as his scientific inventions are as groundbreaking as his art. The same was true of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomy, which influenced modern anatomists and physicians. Using his artistic skills, Leonardo da Vinci pioneered methods of dissection, such as the dissection of layered displays of muscles. He also created the technique of "planes, sections and elevations", which were very influential. Of course, these methods were incorporated into the most famous anatomy book of the Renaissance, Andreas Vesarius's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1543.
In fact, Leonardo da Vinci's detailed experiments with human parts were so advanced that a scientific article on the aortic valve published in the journal Nature in 1968 cited his experiments. The only mention in the entire article is Leonardo da Vinci, whose research predates its time by 500 years.
Many Renaissance artists used anatomy to understand the human body
Michelangelo and leonardo da Vinci were not the only renaissance artists who used human anatomy to understand the human body. Sculptor Baggio Bandinelli promised a potential patron: "I will show you how I dissect the brain and how I dissect the living, just as I learned my art by dissecting the dead." Bandinelli created many famous sculptures, one of which is a statue of Hercules, which still stands in Florence's Piazza della Nobility.
Similarly, in The Life of an Artist, Giorgio Vasari calls the Florentine artist Antonio Pollaiuolo "the first master to study muscles and understand nudity in a more modern way." Boleiolo uses dissection to understand how the human body, especially muscles, works.
Da Vinci often wandered around the hospital for a chance to come across a corpse where he could dissect it
But how exactly did Renaissance artists obtain corpses and perform dissections? Michelangelo was able to exchange his cross for corpses, while other artists had to use more other ways. For example, da Vinci liked to wait for corpses in the hospital. In 1506, Leonardo da Vinci visited the Santa Maria Hospital in Florence, where he met a 100-year-old patient.
Leonardo da Vinci had been waiting for his death before dissecting his body. He later explained: "I performed an autopsy to find the cause of such a mild death. ”
Renaissance artists, who created their masterpieces by buying and selling the dead
It has to be said that sometimes the method of obtaining corpses is very dark. A rumor circulated during the Renaissance that Michelangelo killed a porter to more accurately picture the suffering of Christ in order to witness his suffering. In addition to stalking hospitals in Florence, da Vinci may have targeted poor foreigners in hospitals in Milan and Rome. If no one could pay for the foreigner's funeral, his body could be handed over to an artist for autopsy.
Tomb robbery was also common during the Renaissance, and some anatomists suggested that their subjects were legally acquired. Vesalius once joked that "Paduan's students" "took a woman away for a public autopsy," and to cover their tracks, they skinned the woman so that her family would not recognize her body. In the 1510s, when leonardo da Vinci was accused of "misconduct" in Rome, he immediately stopped his anatomical research – perhaps there were rumors that he had illegally taken the body for autopsy? In any case, leonardo da Vinci left us with his anatomical research for future generations.
Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, influenced by his anatomical research
Da Vinci created his masterpiece The Virgin and Child and Saint Anne in 1510 – the same year he was conducting detailed anatomical studies. In this painting, the Virgin Mary leans down to grab the Son of Christ who is wrestling with a sacrificial lamb. Mary's mother, Saint Anne, looked after the couple. The painting was originally intended to hang above the altar of a church in Florence, but today the masterpiece is in the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Da Vinci spent years dissecting corpses to study their inner workings so he could understand the mechanisms behind a mother reaching out to grab her child. His detailed study of the human body helped leonardo da Vinci understand how the spine works and how the heart pumps blood. It also helped him create amazing works of art.
Michelangelo's David is amazing because the artist dissected humans
But perhaps the most famous Renaissance work influenced by anatomy is Michelangelo's David, one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world. Giorgio Vasari says it is superior to "all other statues, whether modern or ancient, Greek or Latin, and no other work of art can match it in any way, michelangelo completed it with such just the right proportions, beauty and excellence." ”
The proportions of the statue were inspired by Michelangelo's anatomical studies. David's posture, known as the "contrapposto", makes the statue look relaxed, even as Michelangelo shows David's muscles ready to move. This ability to balance the state of relaxation and readiness is the result of Michelangelo's detailed study of human muscles. So if it weren't for the autopsy in the monastery, Michelangelo would not have been able to create such an immortal statue.