Leonardo's desire to be "true to nature" saw the artist dissect 30 corpses and compile hundreds of sheets of drawings of the human body, but his research stayed among his private papers until 1900, when they were finally published and understood by the scientific world.

"Had Leonardo published, he would have been the most important figure ever to publish on human anatomy and we would regard him now on par with Galileo or Newton," Clayton told Reuters.

"Leonardo has a reputation as a great painter who did a bit of science on the side, almost like a hobby. People think of his flying machine and submarine."

Clayton said the exhibition shows that Leonardo's work as an anatomist was deeply serious, incredibly detailed and hugely important.

The artist's drawing of the cardiovascular system was compiled in several stages, sketched first in red and then black chalk, his fingerprints still visible on the paper.

Francis Well, associate lecturer at the University of Cambridge, said the 500-year-old drawings are still relevant to modern science.

"Examining these drawings of the heart as a group, and indeed reading the notes, it is extraordinary to think that they are now 500 years old and yet they still speak to us in current times in a useful way," Wells said in a news statement.

Leonardo's drawings have been in the possession of the English monarch's Royal Collection since 1690.

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