I've always loved Leonardo da Vinci's horse studies and seeing as though I've been looking at the horse's legs I thought for day 66 I'd try drawing some of his leg sketches. 

As well as being a painter, the Italian artist would spend hours making drawings and notes on science and invention, which involved a variety of subjects including anatomy, botany and astronomy. Da Vinci truly was a prolific draughtsman and a master at depicting the horse mainly due to the fact that he was able to dissect it to see the inner workings of the animal. He would document the muscles, nerves and vessels which helped him to understand the mechanics of movement. 

This is my first attempt at trying to draw from Da Vinci's work and, gosh, it really has opened my eyes to how much he knew and understood the anatomy of the horse. He certainly did observe each and every muscle. He's such an inspiration and his work compels me to want to continue my horse anatomy studies long after this project has finished.

Click here to see the original Da Vinci leg studies I worked from for today's piece.