Tyler, C. W.

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              City, University of London Institutional RepositoryCitation: Tyler, C. W. ORCID: 0000-0002-1512-4626 (2019). Did Leonardo da Vinci have Strabismus? Assessment of binocular alignment in a historical figure. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 60(9), p. 4436. This is the published version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link:  https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/23208/Link to published version: Copyright and reuse: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to.City Research Online:            http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/            publications@city.ac.ukCity Research OnlineDid Leonardo da Vinci have Strabismus? Assessment ofbinocular alignment in a historical figure | IOVSiovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspxJuly 2019Volume 60, Issue 9Open AccessARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   July 2019Did Leonardo da Vinci have Strabismus? Assessment ofbinocular alignment in a historical figureChristopher W TylerInvestigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science July 2019,Vol.60, 4436. doi:https://doi.org/AbstractPurpose : Leonardo da Vinci was renowned for his expansive view of the scope of thenatural and humanistic Leonardo da Vinci was renowned for his expansive view of thescope of the natural and humanistic universe, but few portraits of him are generallyrecognized. One case is is the sculpture of ‘David’ by his master, Verrocchio, which isoften considered to be based on the young Leonardo as a model when he arrived as anapprentice in Verrocchio's studio. The eyes in this sculpture are evidently divergent. Thequestion to be assessed is whether this ocular divergence is an artistic trope or averidical depiction of Leonardo’s ocular physiology. 1/2veridical depiction of Leonardo’s ocular physiology.Methods : A set of age-appropriate likely portraits or self-portraits of Leonardo withclear depictions of both eyes in the face were identified for analysis. To meet thisidentification, a depiction had to a) have a date matching Leonardo’s age at the time, b)be attributable to Leonardo or his master, Verrocchio, and c) have a physiognomyconsistent with the ‘David’ sculpture. The ocular vergence angle was assessed by fittingcircles and ellipses to the pupils, irises and eyelid apertures, and by measuring theHirschberg angle of the irises to the light reflex in the two eyesResults : The divergence angle in most of the identified portraits averaged about 10 deg,suggesting that Leonardo had a habitual exotropia of the ocular alignment. The eyealignment in two likely self-portraits was orthotropic, consistent with the eyesstraightening up when viewing his self-image in a mirror, implying that the exotropia wasof the intermittent type. However, in the orthotropic self-portraits the two eyes showmarked discrepancies, suggestive of attempts to depict a interocular suppressioncondition.Conclusions : Other famous artists, such as Rembrandt, have been found to show anexotropic eye configuration in self-portraits. In the case of Leonardo da Vinci, a helping toexplain his facility in depicting space through the resultant monocular vision to focus onmonocular cues to depth such as linear and aerial perspective. It may also explain hisfailure to identify binocular disparity as a depth cue despite a careful analysis in hisnotebooks of the geometric difference between the views of the two eyes.This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver,Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.Verrocchio's 'David', often atrtibuted as da Vinci at age 14.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.AdvertisementCopyright © 2015 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.2/2

Did Leonardo da Vinci have Strabismus? Assessment of binocular alignment in a historical figure

https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/23208/8/iovs.arvojournals.org-Did%20Leonardo%20da%20Vinci%20have%20Strabismus%20Assessment%20of%20binocular%20alignment%20in%20a%20historical%20figure%20%20IOVS.pdf

Did Leonardo da Vinci have Strabismus? Assessment of binocular alignment in a historical figure

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