The anatomy of a bear's foot
c.1488-90RCIN 912372
At the outset of Leonardo’s anatomical investigations he was unable to procure much human material, many of his dissections were therefore of animals. Bears lived wild and were hunted in Italy in the fifteenth century. They were also kept in captivity by street entertainers and for baiting. Here Leonardo concentrates on the tendons of the foot and their attachments to the bones.