This 3D model is an interactive version of a woodcut illustration from Andreas Vesalius' publication, "De Humani Corporis Fabrica".
Published in 1543, this set of anatomical books was the first in history to be based on human dissection and observation. While studying in Padua, Vesalius began to notice the errors in anatomical teaching, which were based on the writings of Galen, a Greek physician and surgeon. Galen's works and teachings were based on animal dissections as human dissections were banned in Ancient Rome. Hence, Vesalius took it upon himself to publish a series of anatomical textbooks based on accurate human dissection.
This 3D model is an interactive version of a woodcut illustration from Andreas Vesalius' publication, "De Humani Corporis Fabrica".
Published in 1543, this set of anatomical books was the first in history to be based on human dissection and observation. While studying in Padua, Vesalius began to notice the errors in anatomical teaching, which were based on the writings of Galen, a Greek physician and surgeon. Galen's works and teachings were based on animal dissections as human dissections were banned in Ancient Rome. Hence, Vesalius took it upon himself to publish a series of anatomical textbooks based on accurate human dissection.
Test your knowledge of the organs of the body in this interactive puzzle game!
Andreas Vesalius is considered the "Father of Modern Anatomy" due to his famous publication De Humani Corporis Fabrica in the 16th century. This was the first anatomy textbook in history to be based on human dissection and observation.
Test your knowledge of the organs of the body in this interactive puzzle game!
Andreas Vesalius is considered the "Father of Modern Anatomy" due to his famous publication De Humani Corporis Fabrica in the 16th century. This was the first anatomy textbook in history to be based on human dissection and observation.
When Andreas Vesalius studied medicine in the 1530s, knowledge of human anatomy was based on the ancient teachings of Galen, who had only dissected animals. Vesalius taught himself human cadaveric dissection, and began to doubt Galen’s authority. When Professor of Anatomy at Padua, he prepared his famous work De Humani Corporis Fabrica. This work revolutionised medical science by challenging long-held tradition, and by its use of amazing woodcut illustrations. From now on students of medicine and surgery could study more accurate visualisations of the human body, drawn from observation and scientific investigation.
The iconic series of fourteen ‘muscle men’ in the ‘Fabrica’ shows the human body in various states of dissection. The figures are depicted in the Euganean Hills near Padua, where Vesalius was Professor of Anatomy.
Andreae Vesalii Bruxellensis, scholae medicorum Patauinae professoris De humani corporis fabrica libri septem
Andreas Vesalius was born in 1514 in Brussels, Belgium. He studied medicine at the University of Louvain and then in Paris. He moved to Padua, home at the time to one of the most important medical schools in Europe. He completed his doctorate and was appointed as anatomical demonstrator and lectured on anatomy. Vesalius emphasised the importance of dissection in the study of anatomy. The 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica' (On the Fabric of the Human Body), published in Basel in 1543, was a beautifully illustrated and influential anatomical textbook. One of the most striking features of the illustrations are the 'muscle men' figures in striking poses surrounded by landscape. After publication of the book, Vesalius was appointed Imperial Physician to Emperor Charles V. He died in 1564.
[12], 659 [i e 663], [37] pages
Formerly owned by the Lutheran theologian Paul Eber (1511-69). Blind-stamped initials "P E" on front cover, and various annotations in Eber's hand throughout.
Originally bound in pigskin by the 16th century Wittenberg bookbinder Conrad Neidel, with blind-stamped decorations (including a roll of portraits of Erasmus, Melanchthon, Martin Luther, and Hans Holbein the Younger). The front, back and spine were removed in the mid-20th century and pasted to a new binding Niger goatskin.
Inscription excised from original endpapers and pasted to front pastedown: "Fama est Vesalium esse mortuum". This is a quote from a 1565 letter from Hubert Languet to Caspar Peucer, informing the latter of the death of Vesalius.
Creator
Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564
Neidel, Conrad, -1568
Date
1543
Identifier
Bookstore VES [folio]
Publisher
Oporinus, Joannes, 1507-1568
Coverage
Basel, Switzerland
Relation
Andrew McAinsh, ‘Bibliographical Note: Identification of Paul Eber as an Owner and Reader of Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica’ The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society. 2016, 17 (4): 446-450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/library/17.4.446
Cushing, H. Bio-bib. of Andreas Vesalius, VI.A.-1.