DAVINCI AND THE WHALE

Leonardo da Vinci

 Years ago, while Michael Marton, the documentary filmmaker I used to work with, was taping in California. There he met a urologist, whose main job was treating the venereal diseases of the Stars.  One day someone called him up and said that there was a beached whale that died and would he like to take a look. The reason this person thought the doctor would be interested was because he was known for his interest in anatomy, especially the part of the anatomy that he treated.

It no secret that a whale has a rather large "member", that this doctor could "explore". His interest in anatomy, however, was not limited to large mammals.

During the War (i.e. WWII) he bought an anatomy drawing by Leonardo, and now that he was making a boat load of money off the escapades of the Hollywood elite, he poured that money into collecting more drawings by Leonardo. He was in his 80s when Michael met him, and had just donated his collection to the Museo Leonardino in Vinci, Italy. I thought of him when I saw this BBC piece on some of Leonardo's anatomy drawings. The narrator, who clearly has a science background, talks about how Leonardo pieced together his understanding of human anatomy from both human and animal sources.

I can’t resist sharing his use of materials with you.