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Just two weeks ago, this space celebrated Leonardo

Just two weeks ago, this space celebrated Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday (April 15, 1452) by sharing his anatomical drawings.

Today, May 2, the death of Leonardo is observed (1519) with an array of his paintings, listed chronologically per their date created.

Image 1: The Annunciation, c. 1472-1475, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.  Image 2: Detail of The Annunciation, notice the angel’s wings, considered by some scholars as the first anatomically accurate painted bird wings.

Image 3: The Baptism of Christ (Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci) c. 1472-75, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The angel to the left, as well as much of the landscape and other elements of the piece, were painted by a young Leonardo while an apprentice of Verrocchio.

Image 4: Detail of The Baptism of Christ, highlighting the angel painted by Leonardo, with each lock of hair painstakingly detailed.

Image 5: Adoration of the Magi, 1481, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. This unfinished panel was recently restored.

Image 6: Virgin of the Rocks, c. 1483-1486, Louvre, Paris.
 Image 7: The Last Supper, c.1495-96, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Image 8: The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, c.1503, Louvre, Paris.

Image 9: Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1506, Louvre, Paris.

Image 10: St. John the Baptist, c. 1513-1516, Louvre, Paris. Believed to be Leonardo’s last painting.

In conclusion of World Immunization Week, annually

In conclusion of World Immunization Week, annually celebrated the last week of April, let’s take a moment to consider smallpox. Deadly for thousands of years, smallpox lesions have been found on 3,000 year old Egyptian mummies. In the 20th century alone over 300 million people died from smallpox, a disease declared eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization.  Prior to the vaccine, people were exposed to smallpox sores by scratching it into their arm or inhaling it through the nose, a procedure called variolation. People developed mild symptoms but rarely died. An option much better than the disease itself.  In 1796 English doctor Edward Jenner observed that the milkmaids who got cowpox never got smallpox. He developed and published his technique of exposing people to cowpox sores, eliminating smallpox infection. He coined the term vaccine, coming from vacca, Latin for cow.  The first photo is a 200 year-old model depicting smallpox and its horrific lesions. The second illustrates the phases from vaccination as it was practiced in the 19th century. These are wax anatomical sculptures by Giuseppe Astorri, used to train 19th century physicians, and exhibited at the Luigi Cattaneo Museum, University of Bologna, Italy.

Works of art in their own right as they are sculpted in wax, they serve as a vehicle to discuss how Art and Anatomy are Connected.

Hopefully they also remind us of the importance of vaccines, as they have saved countless millions (if not billions!) across the globe from disease, disability and death, and added decades to our life expectancies.

In celebration of the Founding of Rome, April 21,

In celebration of the Founding of Rome, April 21, 753 BC!

1: Capitoline Wolf (11th century). Abandoned along the Tiber River, the twins were nurtured by a She Wolf and found by a shepherd. They founded a city, quarreled over who would rule, Romulus killed his brother Remus, and named Rome after himself.  2: Roman Forum, with ruins from 500 BC, location of Rome’s most important activities. Photo from Palatine Hill, location of where the She Wolf found Romulus and Remus.

3: Aeneas, by Bernini (1619). Trojan hero Aeneas, fled Troy after it fell to the Greeks. Romulus and Remus are said to be his descendants. Bernini shows Aeneas carrying his father as they flee a burning Troy.
 4: Colosseum, 80 AD, Rome’s most famous landmark. The 2,000 year old Colosseum needs no description.  5: Marforio, 1st century AD, depicting Oceanus, god of all the world’s waters. Marforio was one of Rome’s Talking Statues, a place were citizens posted complaints against authorities.  6: The Tiber River and Castel Sant’Angelo, 2nd century AD, tomb of Roman emperor Hadrian. It was converted to a Papal fortress, and also served as a prison.   7: Temple of Vesta, 3rd century BC, housing the Holy Fire of Vesta. Vestal Virgins tended this fire, as Romans believed disaster would befall Rome if it were to extinguish. A Vestal Virgin had to remain chaste, if not, she were buried alive while her partner was beaten to death.  8: The Pantheon, 2nd century AD. Originally a temple dedicated to all the gods, is now a Roman Catholic church. The dome is perhaps its most impressive feature, remaining the largest, unreinforced concrete dome in the world.   9: Fountain of Neptune, Piazza Navona. Roman fountains are not only aesthetically beautiful, but provided water to Rome’s citizens, and served to cool in the summer.  10: Piazza della Minerva, Elephant and Obelisk. The obelisk, 580 BC, is Egyptian and brought to Rome in the 1st century AD. Elephant, by Bernini (1667) has his rump defiantly facing the building that housed the Roman Inquisition, location of Galileo’s trial for placing the sun at the center of the universe. Pantheon is visible in the background.

On this day, April 15, in the year 1452, perhaps t

On this day, April 15, in the year 1452, perhaps the greatest polymath the world has known, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, was born. So much more than a painter or sculptor, Leonardo was also an innovative architect, engineer and scientist, generations ahead of his time.  Leonardo’s contributions to human anatomy are not well known as his works in this area are in his private papers, and were not published for the general public until the 20th century.  Anatomists examining his drawings and notes in recent decades are learning that Leonardo’s understanding of human structure and function was generations ahead of his contemporaries. He was first to describe the proper shape of the brain’s ventricles by injecting wax into the empty spaces, a technique called casting, and not used by anatomists for centuries. He described the correct functioning of the heart’s aortic valve in 1510, over 400 years ahead of modern physiologists!  The following photos are from Leonardo’s personal notebooks, taken in 2017 when I had the great fortune to enjoy a private viewing in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, and in 2019 when they were exhibited at Queen’s Gallery Buckingham Palace, London.
 Photo 1. Portrait of Leonardo, by his pupil and heir, Francesco Melzi, c. 1515-18. This drawing is considered the only reliable portrait of the master to survive.  Photo 2. Principle Organs of a Female, c. 1507.  Photo 3. Ventricles of the Brain, c. 1508-9.  Photo 4. Muscles and Bones of the Body, c. 1510.  
Photo 5. Windsor Castle, location of hundreds of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings from his personal notebooks in the Royal Collection.  Photo 6. Entrance to the Windsor Castle Royal Collection.
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Today, April 6 is National Carbonara Day! Although

Today, April 6 is National Carbonara Day! Although many recipes abound with competing ingredients: pancetta versus bacon, pecorino or Parmigiano, egg or cream, true Carbonara is found in Rome, the city of its founding!  Authentic Carbonara in The Eternal City is prepared simply but expertly with just a few ingredients: spaghetti, egg, pecorino Romano (sheep milk cheese), and guanciale (pig cheek!), along with some of the reserved water from the pasta, and perhaps some pepper. That’s it - no cream, garlic or parsley!   Tonight celebrate National Carbonara Day with a beautiful plate of Spaghetti alla Carbonara and a glass of wine! Buon appetito!
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In celebration of Easter Monday, or La Pasquetta,

In celebration of Easter Monday, or La Pasquetta, The Bust of the Saviour (Salvator Mundi), by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1679), sculpted when the artist was 80 years old, and most likely his last work. Imagine producing such a masterpiece so late in life!

The bust was “lost” for centuries, yet thankfully it was “rediscovered” in 2001. It is on display at the Basilica of Saint Sebastian at the Catacombs, Rome.
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In celebration of Easter Sunday, The Resurrection,

In celebration of Easter Sunday, The Resurrection, by Giotto, 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy.

🌺Buona Pasqua a tutti!💐
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In celebration of Easter Sunday, The Risen Christ,

In celebration of Easter Sunday, The Risen Christ, by Michelangelo, 1521, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome.

🌺He is risen indeed!💐
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In continued observation of Holy Saturday,The Depo

In continued observation of Holy Saturday,The Deposition, by Michelangelo, carved between 1547 - 1555. Michelangelo began sculpting it at age 72, most likely for his own tomb. The hooded figure at the apex of the group is Nicodemus, and most likely a self-portrait of Michelangelo. A group of four figures carved from a single block of marble is an incredibly ambitious composition.

At age 80, after eight years of sculpting and unhappy with the result, most likely from the quality of the marble, he became frustrated and attempted to destroy it, breaking off numerous limbs with a hammer, ending his work on the project.  Michelangelo gifted it to a servant, who sold it to a young sculptor who attempted restoration. After passing through several other owners, it was eventually acquired by Cosimo III de’ Medici, who brought it from Rome to Florence, where it remains today, on display in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.
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In observation of Holy Saturday, The Mourning of C

In observation of Holy Saturday, The Mourning of Christ, by Giotto, 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. Note the anguish on the faces. Historians note this is the first time in Western art such emotion was depicted.
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