Why were Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical discoveries not widely known during his lifetime?

Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical discoveries remained largely unknown during his lifetime primarily because he kept his medical investigations private. Although he produced a vast collection of detailed drawings and notes, he did not consider himself a professional anatomist, and he neither taught his findings nor published them.1

Furthermore, while Leonardo frequently addressed an imaginary reader in his writings and expressed a desire for his work to be printed, he never completed the necessary steps to organize or publish his scientific studies. Consequently, his extensive research remained contained within his personal notebooks, which were inherited by his student Francesco Melzi after Leonardo's death. Because these findings were never disseminated to the scientific community of his era, his contributions to anatomy did not influence contemporary medical knowledge.231