Leonardo da Vinci was cross-eyed according to scientific research

What is the secret to the depth that characterizes Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings? Strabismus: at least according to the study published in the journal Jama Ophthalmology by neuroscientist Christopher W. Tyler of City University London. According to the research, Leonardo would have been affected by exotropia, a form of intermittent strabismus, which would have caused the artist’s brain to “switch off” the deviated eye at certain times: this shift from biocular to monocular vision would explain his ability to grasp the details that make faces, objects and landscapes three-dimensional.

To arrive at this conclusion, the research involved various works by Leonardo such as the Mona Lisa, theVitruvian Man, his self-portrait and the Salvador mundi, but also Verrocchio’s David, for which Leonardo is said to have modeled.

Interviewed byANSA, Tyler explained, “it is likely that intermittent squinting, with alternating 2D and 3D vision, somehow made the artist more aware of those details that generate three-dimensionality in paintings, and this might explain why Leonardo was so careful to give the impression of depth in his works.”

“That of intermittent squinting seems to me a novel and surprising hypothesis,” comments Davide Lazzeri, a plastic surgeon who has been involved in the study of medicine in art for years.

“This study,” the expert continues, "once again confirms the great interest in reconstructing Leonardo’s complex ’medical record’: in fact, it has long been hypothesized that the famous artist was a vegetarian and that this may have led to an increase in the values of a blood protein, called homocysteine, which increases cardiovascular risk. This led to the stroke hypothesis, which, according to some scholars, would find confirmation in the paralysis of Leonardo’s right hand, described in 1517 by the secretary of the Cardinal of Aragon Antonio de’ Beatis, and in the episode of paroxysm that allegedly occurred at the point of death in the presence of the King of France."

Source ANSA

Leonardo da Vinci was cross-eyed according to scientific research

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