Leonardo da Vinci, The
Abdomen and Leg of a Man, a
drawing
Italy, around AD 1506-7
This study of the left side of a nude man is
mainly concerned with the highly-developed muscles of the thigh and
calf; the foot and bottom are barely sketched in. It is probable
that as well as sketching from life, Leonardo also dissected a dead
body to gain information about the position of the muscles. Yet his
skill lies in the ability to show how the muscles under the skin
and flesh inform our knowledge of the whole body. Such knowledge of
the human body is important for Leonardo's paintings. He
understood how to build up the body from a skeleton with muscles
and flesh, to the nude which he then clothed with drapery and set
in dramatic action.
The
study is drawn in red chalk on salmon-pink prepared paper. Around
this period Leonardo made quite a number of studies in red chalk on
red paper. He began this 'red on red' technique in
the 1490s with drawings for the Last
Supper (Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie
(Refectory), Milan) and then continued with it in a series of
botanical drawings for his lost picture of
Leda and the Swan. He
also made comparative studies with the legs of horses, studying
both bone and muscle structure.
A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, Italian drawings in the Depa-5 (London, The British Museum Press, 1950)
N. Turner, Florentine drawings of the six, exh. cat. (London, The British Museum Press, 1986)