I believe that the most interesting part of the reading was the extent of Leonardo’s studies on proportion. I found it interesting that Renaissance artist’s work on proportion “…were not only intended to display artistic skill, they were meant to achieve harmony.” “The painter in harmonious proportions makes the component parts react simultaneously so that they can be seen at one and the same time both together and separately…”(138). Due to the fact that divisions of various branches of anatomy did not exist, Leonardo studied the problems of physiology and embryology along with the systems of nerves and arteries. Leonardo anticipated the principle of blood circulation and prepared for future analyses on many subjects. Leonardo explains the importance of the painter understanding the anatomy of humans and animals. Leonardo says, “the painter who has the knowledge of the nature of the sinews, muscles, and tendons will know very well in the movement of a limb how many and which of the sinews are the cause of it, and which muscle by swelling is the cause of the contraction of that sinew; and which sinews expanded into most delicate cartilage surround and support the said muscle (145). Leonardo Di Vinci in this way explains that it is vital to understand the fact that all parts of the human body are connected. Understanding how these different parts are connected allows the painter to understand the functionality of the parts as a separate and as a whole. Understanding the functionality and connectivity of the different body parts provides the painter with the knowledge needed to correctly depict the proportions correctly. Leonardo states that his drawings are superior to watching anatomical dissections because it is impossible to observe all of the details of the drawing in a single figure. In order to obtain a complete knowledge of the body parts, Leonardo states that he produced his drawings after studying more than ten human bodies. The study of multiple different test subjects also allow for the complete understanding of the anatomical form because the bodies were subject to different environments and aged for different lengths of time. I found Leonardo’s study of how the human body contains organs of sense that are duller and coarser in comparison with those of the constitutions of animals. There study of interest was between the eyes of the lion tribe compared to that of men. He states that, “the eyes of the lion tribe have a large part of the head for their sockets and the optic nerves are in immediate communication with the brain; with men the contrary is seen to be the case for the sockets of the eyes occupy but a small part if the head, and the optic nerves are thin and long and weak; and by the weakness of their action we see by day, but badly at night; whereas the aforesaid animals see better by night than by day; and the proof of this is seen in the fact that they prowl for prey by night and sleep by day as do nocturnal birds” (158). I found this as an evident demonstration of just how intelligent Leonardo’s thought process was and the fact that he was analyzing such complicated differences in anatomical form such as in pupil dilation. This is extremely impressive that he performed this observatory research when such scientific studies and knowledge was not yet available at the time. It is remarkable that he went to the extent of even comparing the pupils of different animals. This ranged from the study of owls of different species, different members of the lion tribe, and wolves. I was a little confused when he stated “If at night your eye is placed between the light and the eye of a cat, it will see the eye look like fire” (159). I was wondering if he was just simply describing how he would see the cat’s eye visually appear or was he not being literal?

I believe that the most interesting part of the reading was the extent of Leonardo’s studies on proportion. I found it interesting that Renaissance artist’s work on proportion “…were not only intended to display artistic skill, they were meant to achieve harmony.” “The painter in harmonious proportions makes the component parts react simultaneously so that they can be seen at one and the same time both together and separately…”(138). Due to the fact that divisions of various branches of anatomy did not exist, Leonardo studied the problems of physiology and embryology along with the systems of nerves and arteries. Leonardo anticipated the principle of blood circulation and prepared for future analyses on many subjects. Leonardo explains the importance of the painter understanding the anatomy of humans and animals. Leonardo says, “the painter who has the knowledge of the nature of the sinews, muscles, and tendons will know very well in the movement of a limb how many and which of the sinews are the cause of it, and which muscle by swelling is the cause of the contraction of that sinew; and which sinews expanded into most delicate cartilage surround and support the said muscle (145). Leonardo Di Vinci in this way explains that it is vital to understand the fact that all parts of the human body are connected. Understanding how these different parts are connected allows the painter to understand the functionality of the parts as a separate and as a whole. Understanding the functionality and connectivity of the different body parts provides the painter with the knowledge needed to correctly depict the proportions correctly. Leonardo states that his drawings are superior to watching anatomical dissections because it is impossible to observe all of the details of the drawing in a single figure. In order to obtain a complete knowledge of the body parts, Leonardo states that he produced his drawings after studying more than ten human bodies. The study of multiple different test subjects also allow for the complete understanding of the anatomical form because the bodies were subject to different environments and aged for different lengths of time. I found Leonardo’s study of how the human body contains organs of sense that are duller and coarser in comparison with those of the constitutions of animals. There study of interest was between the eyes of the lion tribe compared to that of men. He states that, “the eyes of the lion tribe have a large part of the head for their sockets and the optic nerves are in immediate communication with the brain; with men the contrary is seen to be the case for the sockets of the eyes occupy but a small part if the head, and the optic nerves are thin and long and weak; and by the weakness of their action we see by day, but badly at night; whereas the aforesaid animals see better by night than by day; and the proof of this is seen in the fact that they prowl for prey by night and sleep by day as do nocturnal birds” (158). I found this as an evident demonstration of just how intelligent Leonardo’s thought process was and the fact that he was analyzing such complicated differences in anatomical form such as in pupil dilation. This is extremely impressive that he performed this observatory research when such scientific studies and knowledge was not yet available at the time. It is remarkable that he went to the extent of even comparing the pupils of different animals. This ranged from the study of owls of different species, different members of the lion tribe, and wolves. I was a little confused when he stated “If at night your eye is placed between the light and the eye of a cat, it will see the eye look like fire” (159). I was wondering if he was just simply describing how he would see the cat’s eye visually appear or was he not being literal?

The author’s intent in the reading was to show the evolving empirical study of art and science together rather than separate.  The approach of studying art changed with the addition of scientific observation.  In this way, art worked to push the limit of science and advance science in ways that words couldn’t.  I got the sense that artists studying art through scientific observation felt that they produced more compelling work that was superior to the more praised work of writer’s and poets at the time.  Artist’s such as Leonardo da Vinci were able to contribute to scientific inquiry in the Renaissance period by applying things such as mathematical calculations to their art.  They worked to depict their art through scientific observation and mathematical proportions.  Naturalistic pieces of art were produced through such observations and calculations.  
Pisanello’s drawing of the fox is faithful to nature in the way it is depicted.  The naturalistic image is correct in proportion and has the visual makeup of a real fox that would be seen in the real world.  While the physical characteristics of the fox’s body are realistic, Pisanello depicted it with a very stylistic posture.  His depictions of the fox and the crab were to be extended over the entire sheet in order to include details of the setting.  The gap would widen between the time and effort to gather and record information along with the momentary percept of the same scene.  The image of the fox poses the discussion of detailed drawing vs. human perspective and accuracy vs. human experience.  The posture of the fox is not objective.  On the contrary, the stance of the fox is individualized in harmony with the artist’s style.  Different artistic styles helped the artist’s of the time rise above the writer and the poet through an individualized technique.  
There are three distinct styles that artist’s used to further their aims of science in the early renaissance.  The three styles are natural, conceptual, and conventional.  The naturalistic style involved improving the means of showing visually the kind of evidence from natural objects that was the interest of both the investigator and the naturalist.  Conceptual involved adjusting visual evidence to an ideal external concept of order.  Conventional involved the preservation of traditional representational imagery.  
Printed books provided another interaction between the artist and scientific material.  Illustrations that were cut on wooden blocks could be passed through the press together with the text at the same time.  In this way,, figures could be produced fast and as inexpensively as words.