Anatomy Drawing's of da Vinci

 

Sometime while at university, we studied the Renaissance.

This was undoubtedly a time of "re-birth" and creativity that astounds all who witnessed the period's art, writing, sculpture, philosophy, etc.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember her name, but the lecturer was a beautiful French woman, her English perfect with that almost mesmerizing accent. She was a natural blond, tiny, and had the most striking blue eyes; however, she was a "Militant Feminist."

What does "Militant Feminist" mean, and what can one expect if one meets one?

Perhaps things have changed, but in those days, a militant feminist hated men in general. On a date, for example, paying for dinner was out of the question, and most times, we'd share the cost. (50/50.) Opening a door for one of these women almost created a confrontation, too many times to count, out of sheer habit, I would do so and the response: most often, vehement, to say the least.

My Renaissance lecturer fit the bill to the end degree.

Once we got to the topic of da Vinci's notebooks and his drawings of anatomy, her face would turn sour, and she would become so flustered that I thought she'd have a nervous breakdown in the lecture hall!

If you have the chance or opportunity to see these drawings, you'll find them uncannily accurate and beautiful at the same time.

The drawing above is of a fetus, perhaps in its second or third trimester.

Well, in no uncertain terms, 'Frenchy' went utterly ballistic.

I believed, anyway, that it was Leonardo's practice (though illegal) to hire men to dig up new graves to then perform 'autopsy's" to attain a better understanding of the human body. Then, he'd dissect the body himself and draw in his notebooks what he observed.

Frenchy believed that this drawing was performed while the mother was "alive" though unconscious for it to be accurate. To then be discarded by Leonardo's apprentices secretly and in the dark of night. 

Really?

I raised my hand in the vast lecture hall, "How can you know this? It is not written anywhere, so it must be your opinion."

Frenchy's face turned red, and it was then I knew, most certainly, I was in for one of those  "teachers- make -the -student -look stupid- exchanges."

"How would you know as you are a MAN, and the sound of your accent, makes you twice as stupid!"

(I'm Canadian, by the way.)

I remember mumbling something about 'proof,' but she ignored me for the rest of the lecture.

Viewing the drawing again is uncannily accurate, but da Vinci was not a murderer, even for his Art. However, it is a little morbid that he had his apprentices dig up bodies for him to study...the man was simply ahead of his time. Nothing more. So to accuse da Vinci of such an atrocity reveals the mind of a zeolite, an extremist....for she had no proof.

To my knowledge and still practiced in most medical schools, a med student must dissect a human body and draw what they see to remember...

Leonardo da Vinci was an extreme genius, but extremists' ideology is simply dangerous.