Leonardo da Vinci suffered a disease in his late career that affected his ability to hold palettes and brushes to paint with his right hand; although this did not affect his ability to sketch with his left hand. According to a new analysis of a 16th-century drawing of an elderly da Vinci, his right hand impairment is most likely related to an acute post-traumatic ulnar neuropathy.
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, unknown date (16th century), Giovan Ambrogio Figino, red chalk or sanguine drawing. Image credit: Museum of Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy / Ministero dei Beni e delle Attivita’ Culturali e del Turismo.
According to most authors, the origin of da Vinci’s right hand palsy was related to a stroke.
Two Italian doctors — Dr. Davide Lazzeri of the Villa Salaria Clinic in Rome and Dr. Carlo Rossi from the Hospital of Pontedera — reached a different conclusion after analysing a 16th-century drawing of an elderly da Vinci, together with a biography and an engraving of the Renaissance polymath artist and inventor in earlier years.
The researchers focused on a portrait of da Vinci drawn with red chalk attributed to the Lombard artist Giovan Ambrogio Figino.
The drawing is a rare rendering of da Vinc’s right arm in folds of clothing as if it was a bandage, with his right hand suspended in a stiff, contracted position.
“Rather than depicting the typical clenched hand seen in post-stroke muscular spasticity, the picture suggests an alternative diagnosis such as ulnar palsy, commonly known as claw hand,” Dr. Lazzeri said.
“A syncope, or faint, is more likely to have taken place than a stroke, during which da Vinci might have sustained acute trauma of his right upper limb, developing ulnar palsy.”
“The ulnar nerve runs from the shoulder to little finger and manages almost all the intrinsic hand muscles that allow fine motor movements.”
“Da Vinci’s hand impairment was not associated with cognitive decline, meaning a stroke was unlikely,” he said.
“This may explain why he left numerous paintings incomplete, including the Mona Lisa, during the last five years of his career as a painter while he continued teaching and drawing.”
The team’s paper was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
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Davide Lazzeri & Carlo Rossi. The right hand palsy of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): new insights on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his death. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, published online May 3, 2019; doi: 10.1177/0141076819848115
