The tendons of the lower leg and foot c.1510-11
Pen and ink over traces of black chalk | 39.0 x 26.5 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 919016
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A double folio from Leonardo's 'Anatomical Manuscript A': A large study of the left foot and leg from just above the knee, in profile to the left, showing the muscles of the calf and the tendons; a small sketch of a left arm and hand seen from in front, with notes on the drawings.
The principal drawing concentrates on the interrelationship of the tendons on the upper side of the toes. The tendons of extensor digitorum longus pass from the lower leg to the metatarsal-phalangeal joints of the four lesser toes (Leonardo has omitted the ligaments at the ankle). In the case of the three middle toes, those tendons are joined at that point, on the lateral side, by the tendons of extensor digitorum brevis (the bodies of that muscle, arising on the calcaneus, are not shown here; they can however be seen on RCIN 919017). The longus and brevis tendons merge to form a broad aponeurosis that then divides into three slips on each toe, the central slip inserting into the second phalanx, the two lateral slips going on to insert into the third phalanx. Leonardo has shown this arrangement perfectly.
This page and 919017 stand apart from the rest of the material in the Manuscript A (919000-919015). The sheets of paper are twice the size; each is dominated by a single drawing; the versos are blank; and many of the notes are written in a uniform shade of ink with the same pen – here in particular they have a neatness and regularity not found elsewhere in the manuscript.
The content, too, is subtly different. Here there is no attempt to describe the drawing directly; the content of the notes and drawing are related but independent and self-sufficient, and many of the notes read as summaries rather than exploratory passages. For example, Leonardo states as a principle, based on all the studies that have gone before, that the muscles within each ‘component’ of the limbs (e.g. shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, hand, fingers) do not move that component, but rather the next component along. The penultimate paragraph states that ‘this winter of 1510 I believe I shall finish all this anatomy’, which should probably be understood to mean, as elsewhere, ‘this treatise on anatomy’. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is one of the last sheets compiled during this campaign of dissection.
Text adapted from M. Clayton and R. Philo, Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist, London 2012Provenance
Bequeathed to Francesco Melzi; from whose heirs purchased by Pompeo Leoni, c.1582-90; Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, by 1630; Probably acquired by Charles II; Royal Collection by 1690
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Medium and techniques
Pen and ink over traces of black chalk
Measurements
39.0 x 26.5 cm (sheet of paper)
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