Focus on this artwork and explore the Preparation and the studies.
Leonardo studied human embryology with the help of anatomist Marcantonio della Torre and saw the fetus within a cadaver. The first study, measuring 30.5×22 cm, shows the fetus in a breech position inside a dissected uterus. Leonardo mistakenly depicted the cotyledons in the vascular walls of the human uterus that he had previously found in a cow uterus. The other study, measuring 30.3×22 cm, shows female external genitalia, the supposed arrangement of abdominal muscles on the top right and fetus from different angles. The tablet at the top contains an Italian inscription: "Dimanda la moglie di Biagin Crivelli come il cappone alleva le oua della ghallina essendo lui imbricato" ("Ask Biagino Crivelli's wife how the capon rears and hatches the eggs of hens when he is unplucked"). Leonardo theorized that the umbilical cord was responsible for taking the fetus' urine outside of the uterus.
uterus embryology umbilical cord Marcantonio della Torre cotyledon breech position female external genitalia fetus