0089: The Cranium Sectioned (Pen and Ink), Leonardo Da Vinci, 1489


The Cranium Sectioned (Pen and Ink), Leonardo Da Vinci, 1489, Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2022


“The cranium studied on the recto is in the same section as in the upper drawing of 919057r, with the floor of the cranial cavity tilted a little further towards the viewer. Again, the site of the senso comune is indicated at the intersection of orthogonal axes. The note defines this position in proportional terms:

The confluence of all the senses has below it in a perpendicular line the uvula, where one tastes food, at a distance of two fingers; and it is directly above the windpipe of the lung and the orifice of the heart by a space of one foot. And it has the junction of the bones of the head half a head above it; and in front of it in a horizontal line is the lacrimator of the eye at one-third of a head.

Via – The Royal Collection Trust

Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2022

, ,