1490s: Fasiculo de medicina, attributed to Johannes de Ketham
Printing was developed in the 1450s, but it would be decades before its potential for scientific communication was fully grasped. Meanwhile, early printers copied well-known medieval manuscripts such as the Fascuilo de medicina , issued in Venice in the 1490s....[More]
1490s: Fasiculo de medicina, attributed to Johannes de Ketham
Printing was developed in the 1450s, but it would be decades before its potential for scientific communication was fully grasped. Meanwhile, early printers copied well-known medieval manuscripts such as the Fascuilo de medicina, issued in Venice in the 1490s. The first printed anatomical text, it covered dissection and other topics such as bloodletting and urinoscopy. Pictured here is an anatomy lesson as it would have been preformed in the late Middle Ages. Bored-looking students stand to the side as a young professor reads aloud from a medical text. In the foreground a barber–surgeon, guided by a senior faculty member, opens the cadaver. At this time dissection was not considered an opportunity for observation and discovery but rather a formal public ritual that reinforced work of classical medical authors, like Galen of Pergamum.
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1522-23: Isagogae breues, by Jacopo Berengario da Carpi
The Isagogae breues, perlucidae ac uberrimae in anatomiam humani corporis published in 1522 or 1523 by the humanist physician Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, is credited as the first printed anatomy text actually based on direct observation of the body....[More]
1522-23: Isagogae breues, by Jacopo Berengario da Carpi
The Isagogae breues, perlucidae ac uberrimae in anatomiam humani corporis published in 1522 or 1523 by the humanist physician Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, is credited as the first printed anatomy text actually based on direct observation of the body. Berengario was deeply skeptical of traditional medical scholarship that valued the words of classical authorities over direct observation of cadavers. He wrote that a good anatomist should not take any facts for granted, but rather use his own senses to ascertain the truth. Although the woodcuts in his book are artistically and anatomically crude, they're a reflection of Italian Renaissance culture. Berengario was an art collector, and many of the figures are based on rediscovered Greek and Roman art as well as works by the great masters da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. The half-flayed man on this page takes up the pose of a classical Apollo, complete with emanating light rays.
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1528: Vier Bucher von menschlicher Proportion, by Albrecht Durer
An important figure in the Northern Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer was born in 1471 to a family of goldsmiths and printers. He was educated in the arts and traveled to Italy as a young man, where he absorbed the ideals and aesthetics of the humanist movement....[More]
1528: Vier Bucher von menschlicher Proportion, by Albrecht Durer
An important figure in the Northern Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer was born in 1471 to a family of goldsmiths and printers. He was educated in the arts and traveled to Italy as a young man, where he absorbed the ideals and aesthetics of the humanist movement. After returning to Germany his reputation was established through his revolutionary woodcuts, paintings and line drawings, and in the 1520s he began investigating science and the principals of design. This image of the ideal male figure is from Dürer's Four Books of Human Proportion. Published posthumously in 1528, these volumes analyzed the structure of the human body in relation to geometry and proportion, which Dürer considered the basis of the visual arts.
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1543: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, by Andreas Vesalius
One of the most famous medical texts, Andreas Vesalius' 1543 volume On the Fabric of the Human Body , was the first truly modern anatomical book....[More]
1543: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, by Andreas Vesalius
One of the most famous medical texts, Andreas Vesalius' 1543 volume On the Fabric of the Human Body, was the first truly modern anatomical book. Vesalius was a surgeon at the University of Padua whose texts corrected Galen's errors and advocated for direct observation of cadavers by physicians. He and his collaborators designed the title page of Fabrica as a direct response to the ritualized anatomy lessons of the time. The corpse is now the center of the image, and the young and energetic Vesalius performs the dissection himself rather than guiding a barber. The anatomy book is still in the picture, although marginalized, whereas the crowd is curious and engaged. Writing instruments sit on the table, indicating that the dissection leads to the text rather than following it.
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1543: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, by Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius's anatomical illustrations were remarkably accurate and artistically accomplished. They were probably based on his own careful drawings, with woodcuts produced by a member of the studio of famed Renaissance painter Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)—possibility with the participation of Titian himself....[More]
1543: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, by Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius's anatomical illustrations were remarkably accurate and artistically accomplished. They were probably based on his own careful drawings, with woodcuts produced by a member of the studio of famed Renaissance painter Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)—possibility with the participation of Titian himself. These are not just sterile medical images; they exhibit the deep connection between science and art characteristic of the Renaissance. The dissected bodies display intense sadness and despair, and the skeleton on this page ponders mortality in a memento mori that would reappear throughout Western culture. In the background, dead trees and barren landscapes represent death and are contrasted with churches and the promise of eternal life.
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1545: De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres, by Charles Estienne
Charles Estienne was a physician who, like Andreas Vesalius, believed in independent observation. Estienne began work on De dissectione in the 1530s, hoping that it would become the preferred text for anatomy education....[More]
1545: De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres, by Charles Estienne
Charles Estienne was a physician who, like Andreas Vesalius, believed in independent observation. Estienne began work on De dissectione in the 1530s, hoping that it would become the preferred text for anatomy education. Most striking to the modern eye is the book's use of female nudes that are less than scientific. It was common during the early years of printing for publishers to reuse woodcuts, whether or not they related to the text at hand. They used male figures to display general anatomy, such as skeletons and muscles, and only employed the female body to show reproductive imagery. In this case, Estienne reworked a series of woodcuts that were originally conceived as sophisticated, soft-core pornography. Here David spies on Bathsheba, whose abdomen has been altered to display the sexual organs and a developing fetus.
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1564: Tabulae anatomicae, by Bartolomeo Eustachi
Reactions to Andreas Vesalius's theories were heated. In Italy, an anti-Vesalian group, led by Bartolomeo Eustachi, criticized any deviation from Galenic theories and argued that the direct observation of cadavers could provide support for the classical model of anatomy....[More]
1564: Tabulae anatomicae, by Bartolomeo Eustachi
Reactions to Andreas Vesalius's theories were heated. In Italy, an anti-Vesalian group, led by Bartolomeo Eustachi, criticized any deviation from Galenic theories and argued that the direct observation of cadavers could provide support for the classical model of anatomy. Eustachi published eight plates in 1564, followed by 38 that were published posthumously as Tabulae anatomicae in 1714. These images were unusual for their time in that they stripped away artistic and philosophical sentiment, often focusing on isolated body parts. They were also the first anatomical illustrations created by copperplate engraving, a technique that allows greater detail and more complex shading than woodblock printing. Eustachi's images were popular and remained in print until the 19th century, when they served as inspiration for modern texts such as Gray's Anatomy. This illustration is taken from a delicately hand-colored edition produced in 1783.
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1556: Anatomia del corpo humano, by Juan Valverde de Amusco
Juan Valverde de Amusco, a member of Eustachi's anti-Vesalian milieu, published Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano in 1556. Plagiarism was rife during the first centuries of printing, and most of the illustrations were copies of Andreas Vesalius's work....[More]
1556: Anatomia del corpo humano, by Juan Valverde de Amusco
Juan Valverde de Amusco, a member of Eustachi's anti-Vesalian milieu, published Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano in 1556. Plagiarism was rife during the first centuries of printing, and most of the illustrations were copies of Andreas Vesalius's work. Redone as copperplate engravings, many were altered to deemphasize radical ideas or were simply distorted through poor copying. One of the only unique illustrations, the Flayed Man holding a Dagger and His Own Skin, may have been influenced by Michelangelo's Saint Bartholomew in the Last Judgment. It is also reminiscent of the myth of Marsyas, a mortal who challenged Apollo to a musical duel and, after loosing, was flayed alive. This myth was used throughout the 16th century to justify the dissection of executed criminals, which was seen as part of their punishment and a path to redemption.
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1742: Suite de l'Essai d'anatomie en tableaux imprimes, by Jacques Fabian Gautier d'Agoty
Among the printing innovations of the 17th century was the color mezzotint, a form of copperplate engraving. Careful abrasion and polishing of the metal plate allowed fine control over tone; color was achieved by successive strikes of red, green and blue ink....[More]
1742: Suite de l'Essai d'anatomie en tableaux imprimes, by Jacques Fabian Gautier d'Agoty
Among the printing innovations of the 17th century was the color mezzotint, a form of copperplate engraving. Careful abrasion and polishing of the metal plate allowed fine control over tone; color was achieved by successive strikes of red, green and blue ink. Several anatomists experimented with mezzotints, but French artist Jacques Fabian Gautier D'Agoty achieved the most arresting results, creating eerie, dreamlike images for a series of anatomical atlases published in the mid-1700s. The science and artwork are unsophisticated, but the illustrations were intended for display rather than instruction, and many of the individual sheets can be combined to form dramatic representations of nearly life-size bodies. The Flayed Angel, printed in 1742, is his most well-known engraving, and its dramatic effect is intensified by the contrast of red flesh on a green background.
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1774: The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures, by William Hunter
Obstetrics was revolutionized between the 18th and 19th centuries when it moved from the work of female midwives to that of male physicians. This was due in part to the work of two Scottish surgeons, William Smellie and William Hunter, who published detailed anatomical treatises on fetal development and birth....[More]
1774: The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures, by William Hunter
Obstetrics was revolutionized between the 18th and 19th centuries when it moved from the work of female midwives to that of male physicians. This was due in part to the work of two Scottish surgeons, William Smellie and William Hunter, who published detailed anatomical treatises on fetal development and birth. In contrast to the artistic and sexualized anatomical women of the past, these bodies are intentionally depicted in a neutral medical light as highly detailed but isolated abdomens and wombs. The plate shown here is from Hunter's Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus of 1774. Although scientifically accurate, it was also a high-end volume published by the famed printer John Baskerville and intended to join the ranks of earlier anatomical masterworks such as Vesalius's De Fabrica.
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3 Comments
Add Commentwhen is mid-second millennium Europe?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOuch! "... after loosing [sic], was flayed alive". Please, Scientific American, learn to spell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOuch! "... after loosing [sic], was flayed alive". Please, Scientific American, learn to spell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this