Andreas Vesalius by J. B. deC. M. Saunders & Charles D. O’Malley

Author:J. B. deC. M. Saunders & Charles D. O’Malley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 1950-07-07T16:00:00+00:00

Plate 21

21 [I]. A representation from the anterior aspect of the bones of the human body articulated together.

Vesalius was strongly convinced that a knowledge of the bones was the essential preliminary to the study of anatomy and therefore provides the student with complete instructions on their preparation and the mounting of an articulated skeleton. The three successive plates illustrating the skeleton from the anterior, lateral and posterior aspects must therefore be viewed in relationship to the muscle figures of the second book of the Fabrica and to the nude figures of the Epitome. In conformity with a carefully thought out plan certain correspondences, either direct or as mirror images, will be found in the position of the extremities, thus providing a basis for the appreciation of muscle attachments and surface landmarks. However, Vesalius says that the mounted skeleton “to speak the truth, contributes more to display than to instruction.” We suppose, therefore, that these illustrations were intended, like certain of the muscle figures, primarily for the instruction of the artist. If this was Vesalius’ intent, he has been eminently successful as they have been universally admired for their dynamic qualities and have been reproduced, copied or modified in one form or another on countless occasions.

The skeleton, the spade and the open grave constitute a motive derived from ancient traditional sources in the personification of Death and the Danse Macabre, but the evolution of the pose is not difficult to follow in the Vesalian works. In the chapter on the articulation of the skeleton, Vesalius recommends the insertion into the mounting board of a spear, scythe, trident or similar object to which the hand of the specimen is attached. Its purpose is not only to add decorative value but also to provide additional security and stability to the skeleton. A preparation mounted in this manner is to be seen in the dissection scene of the title page. It is obvious that such an arrangement is responsible for the curious pose of the earlier skeletal figures of the Tabulae Sex (q.v.), where the right hand evidently held a staff. The practice doubtless influenced and suggested the pose of the present illustration. The odd position of the horizontal portion of the handle of the spade, set at right angles to the blade, made an admirable support for the specimen but a poor implement for turning the sod.

Although the skeletal figures are so greatly admired, they present many errors of proportion, some of which Vesalius himself recognized. The skeleton is that of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old male, which has been reduced to approximately a fifth of natural size. However, the thorax is too short, the lumbar spine too long and the entire torso somewhat too short. The-spinal curvatures, fully recognized by Leonardo da Vinci, are virtually absent, undoubtedly due to the Vesalian method of mounting the preparation, in which the vertebrae were threaded over a rigid iron bar thrust through the sacrum and bent quite empirically. As a consequence of the loss of the

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