Search results

Start typing

This exhibition is in the past. View our current exhibitions.
LEONARDO DA VINCI (VINCI 1452-AMBOISE 1519)

Recto: The vessels and nerves of the neck. Verso: The vessels of the liver

c.1508

RCIN 919051

Recto: a drawing showing the front view of the blood vessels of the neck; a study of the phrenic or accessory phrenic nerve running between the artery and vein towards the heart; notes on the drawings. Verso: the portal vein and branches of the coeliac artery; the portal vein and its branches; a detail of the liver, the gall bladder, the pylorus, the duodenum and blood vessels; notes on the drawings In the winter of 1507-08 Leonardo witnessed the peaceful death of a man aged over a hundred and performed a dissection to find the cause of what he called ‘so sweet a death’. The diagrams on this sheet record his pioneering investigations into the structure of the liver. The notes are in Leonardo’s characteristic ‘mirror-writing’, left-handed and moving from right to left; each of the three diagrams is headed del vechio, ‘of the old man’. RL 19051v

    The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.