Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man

Leonardo da Vinci is among the greatest draftsmen ever to have lived, and his anatomical drawings combine his almost unsurpassed artistic skill with his dexterity in dissection and his extensive knowledge of the structures he uncovered.

Now in paperback, Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man reproduces Leonardo’s Manuscript A, the written record of a campaign of human dissections completed during the winter of 1510–11. Although his studies of human anatomy span more than twenty-five years, this is the only group of drawings in which he approached complete coverage of the human form, and it also represents his finest work in this area. Each of the drawings is reproduced to its original size and includes Leonardo’s extensive annotations made in his distinctive “mirror-writing.” Accompanying each of the drawings is a second, smaller reproduction with the text in English-language translation, rendering the thinking behind these beautiful drawings accessible to the general reader.