Domenico Laurenza

Università degli Studi di Firenze

Forms of transmission of anatomical knowledge: drawings and three-dimensional models in the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Vesalius

2007-2008

Domenico Laurenza earned his doctorate in Historical Studies from the Scuola Superiore di Studi Storici (San Marino, 1996; Ph.D.) after training in medicine at the University of Naples (Laurea, 1991). He devotes his research principally to the relationship between scientific models of nature and the theory and practice of art in Early Modern Europe. In particular, he specializes in the work of Leonardo da Vinci and in Renaissance anatomical illustrations, considering the images from both artistic and scientific perspectives.
He is a researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Florence and collaborates with the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (IMSS, Florence). He has spent periods of research at the Warburg Institute in London (Frances A. Yates Fellowship, 1995), at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London (Wellcome Research Travel Grant, 1994), at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Mellon Fellowship, 2006-7) and, as visiting professor, at McGill University in Montreal (2006-7). He is the author of several books, some appearing in English, French and German translation; select titles include: De figura umana. Fisiognomica anatomia e arte in Leonardo (Leo S. Olschki, Firenze, 2001); Leonardo. La scienza trasfigurata in arte (Milano, Le scienze/Scientific American 2000); La ricerca dell'armonia. Rappresentazioni anatomiche nel Rinascimento (Leo S. Olschki, Firenze, 2003); Leonardo on flight (Giunti, Firenze, 2005); and Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed (David & Charles, Devon, 2006). In addition he has published articles in scholarly journals such as The Burlington Magazine, Nuncius, ALV Journal, Raccolta Vinciana, and Micrologus.