With permission to dissect at Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and later in Milan and Rome, I made more than 240 detailed anatomical drawings and about 13,000 words toward a treatise on anatomy.
In the Mona Lisa I developed sfumato, "Leonardo's smoke": oils blended on the surface so no brushstroke shows, with shadowed corners of mouth and eyes that leave the smile unresolved.
For the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan I painted the instant after Jesus says "one of you will betray me", designing each disciple's reaction as art built from expression and gesture.
I work as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect, and I keep notebooks that join art and science across anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography and painting.
