Leonardo da Vinci Anatomical Studies
When Leonardo da Vinci died
in 1519 he left a collection of his drawings and manuscripts, among which
were sketches of the human body he had made at various times during his
scientific investigations and artistic work. These drawings were acquired
in 1580 by Pompeo Leoni who was a sculptor in the court of King Phillip
II of Spain, and later were brought to England by Lord Arundel who was
an advisor to King Charles I of England. They now are in the Royal Collection
at Windsor Castle. Five years ago the Johnson Reprint Corporation of New
York and London arranged to construct at Windsor Castle a studio with
special cameras to produce photographs of these drawings in full color
and original size. The films were converted to plates for printing at
the Curwen Press in London. The result is a true facsimile of all the
two hundred anatomical drawings in the collection, printed on folio pages
which are arranged in a portfolio box bound in goatskin dyed in royal
blue. Accompanying the portfolio are two volumes of text containing transliterations
of Leonardo's notes in the original fifteenth-century Italian and translations
of the notes into English, with commentaries by two outstanding scholars,
Dr. Kenneth Keele and Dr. Carlo Pedretti.
A Georgetown alumnus of the Class of 1969 acquired and presented to the
library a set of this facsimile edition of the Leonardo da Vinci anatomical
studies. This outstanding gift to the library brings to Georgetown students
and faculty one of da Vinci's most important works.