Leonardo da Vinci’s embryological drawings of the fetus in the womb and his accompanying observational annotations are found in the third volume of his private notebooks (Hilary J Gilson). The drawings of Leonardo’s embryological studies were conducted between the years 1510–1512 and were drawn with black and red chalk with some pen and ink wash on paper (Hilary J Gibson). The drawings illustrate how much of a genius Leonardo is at the human …show more content…
body and how he can show it.
This might sound weird to include Leonardo da Vinci in a list of evolutionary biologists. Leonardo was and is best known as an artist, the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and The Last Supper. Yet Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time (Gabriel Divorsh). He made painstaking observations and carried out research in fields ranging from architecture and civil engineering to astronomy to anatomy and zoology to geography, geology and paleontology (Gabriel Divorsh).
It is certain that Leonardo left with him, attached to his household, and that soon afterward he accepted an invitation of Francis I of France to settle at the castle of Cloux, near Amboise (Carl McGarty).
Here, he was left entirely free to pursue his own researches until his death. Although there is no certain record of his last years, he seems to have been active with festival decoration and to have been interested in a canal project (McGarty). Notes and drawings ascribed to this late period show his continued interest in natural philosophy and experimental science (McGarty). In 1506, Leonardo traveled to Milan. He became the exquisite painter and engineer to Louis XII. In 1507, he returned to Florence to battle against his brothers for their uncle Francesco's inheritance. In 1513, he moved to Rome. There, he worked on mirrors, and probably the above self- portrait. In 1516, he left Italy for France, joining King Francis I in Amboise, whom he served as a wise philosopher for three years before his death in
1519.