Art of Anatomy: A History of Anatomical Illustration

The art of anatomy sits at the unique intersection of rigorous scientific study and artistic expression. It provides a rich visual timeline that traces the development of scientific thought and creative form.

Dating back to the beginning of civilisation, anatomy has long been of interest to those striving to understand the human body, and as time progressed through new periods, compendiums of drawings documenting anatomical discoveries were produced. Stretching across the centuries, these anatomical illustrations have proved invaluable in understanding the human form for artists and scientists.

Discover the evolution of anatomy art from Leonardo da Vinci in the sixteenth century to the publication of Gray’s Anatomy and beyond.

Leonardo Da Vinci's Anatomy Drawings

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) produced some of the earliest modern studies on the subject of anatomy through his attempts to understand the workings of the universe. His anatomical research looked deeper than mapping the human form, striving to understand the development of the body in line with the meaning of existence.

Similarly, those who followed him, like anatomists Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and Charles Estienne (1504–1564), produced volumes of anatomy that featured elaborate illustrations of the body in varying poses and settings. These grand and aesthetically opulent volumes posed philosophical questions on the existence of man while also documenting his make-up.

Anatomy and the Renaissance

In an age before modern medical understanding, many of the key ideas regarding human physiology were circularly linked to the wider philosophical understandings of the universe. The early works celebrated the full form of the human figure, proclaiming it the integral key to a higher understanding of the universe.

In the early anatomy studies, the influences of the wider art movements are evident in the fashion of the figures arranged throughout the pages, overtly styled in the manner of the period. Volumes like Juan Valverde de Amusco’s (1525–1587) Anatomica del corpo humano (1560) sought to understand the anatomy of man in an idealised manner, posing philosophical questions of existence while regarding the human entity in God’s image.

Similarly, suggestions of the flayed man are found in the work of the Italian Renaissance masters, with a similar figure appearing in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement (1536–1541) adorning the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. An image of Saint Bartholomew is presented holding his flayed skin, which is said to represent his martyrdom, offering his perfect anatomical form to God for final and eternal judgement.

Gross Human Anatomy

As the sciences progressed, the following centuries saw more and more explorations of anatomy. Govard Bidloo’s anatomical study from 1685 is profusely illustrated and takes a unique look at gross anatomy as it was understood in the seventeenth century. Gross anatomy is the study of the body’s structure at a macroscopic level, or what can be been by the human eye. His drawings are an early example of the anatomical illustrations that we know today, showcasing all the elements of human makeup and the dissection process in an unflinching manner.

illustrated anatomy in the 18th century

As the eighteenth century dawned, there was an increased interest in medical study. During this period, it was understood that scientific illustrations needed to be presented to scale for them to be as accurate as possible. An effort was made to remove additional embellishments in a paired-down illustration style to allow the works to be used in the classroom.

Physicians like William Cheselden (1688-1752) produced volumes of comparative anatomy that would become the foundation of pre-clinical training in Britain. Cheselden’s major work, The Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1713, became the standard anatomical text for more than a century. Following this, his anatomical work Osteographia or The Anatomy of Bones, published twenty years later, featured life-size studies of bones illustrated by Cheselden himself.

Following Cheselden, William Cowper (anatomist and physician, not to be confused with the poet and liberal) produced two volumes in the early 1700s that would become cornerstones of anatomical study. He reworked that of Bidloo from 1685, extending and updating it with new scientific discoveries, and is most famous for his early description of what is now known as Cowper’s Gland.

This style of anatomical publishing that commonly produced elaborate volumes for a wealthy, upper-class readership remained popular up to the beginning of the 1800s, seeing the publication of key works like John Hunter’s (1728–1793) work on the Gravid Uterus, published in 1774. Much like those which came before, Hunter’s volume rang true to the grand, expensive, and often impractical volumes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and also featured full-scale illustrations alongside his text.

As colour printing was invented in the eighteenth century, anatomical illustrations strove for more and more realistic depictions. Jacques Fabien Gautier d’Agoty was a pioneer not only in publishing but also in his unique work in anatomy. Collaborating with physician and anatomist Guichard Joseph Duverney, he created a set of anatomical charts in which the details stood out in ‘horrible precision’. Through his work, he popularised the process of colour engraving in eighteenth-century France, publishing one of the first volumes using the new colour technique in 1748.

Another later example of coloured anatomy is Anatomia Universale by the Italian physician Paolo Mascagni, who was responsible for the first detailed explanation of the spleen. Produced in 1833, the brilliantly modern textbook on anatomy featured life-size coloured plates. It was illustrated by Seratoni Antonio, who accompanied each coloured image with a black-and-white version on the following page. This huge volume was printed as an elephant folio at 58cm tall.

Henry Gray's Anatomy

As the 1800s progressed, the popularity of the sciences led to the establishment of more and more medical schools, which called for contemporary treatises on the subject with up-to-date information. The volumes of the earlier decades proved inefficient in scale for use within the classroom. Practical anatomical texts that could be widely and cheaply distributed while providing accurate direction for those studying the subject were needed.

When it was first published in 1858, Gray’s Anatomy took an obtrusively clinical approach to the subject in both illustration and narrative, placing the student as close to the dissecting table as possible without physically witnessing it.

The deliberately ‘style-less’ Gray’s Anatomy aimed to observe human anatomy objectively, presenting illustrations that were as detailed and realistic as possible in a small and affordable volume. Created as scientific drawings first, the illustrations opt for practicality over aesthetic substance—a far cry from the grand and creatively-led volumes on anatomy from earlier centuries.

Henry Vandyke Carter (1831-1897) presented his illustrations with thorough annotations to ease comparison and aid learning in practical use. Each drawing is accompanied by comprehensive information, with the labels becoming key elements of the images themselves. He unknowingly established a new style of medical illustration that endures today.

After Gray's Anatomy

In the wake of Gray’s Anatomy, the nineteenth century saw progressions in the sciences like never before. New discoveries and developments in knowledge produced anatomical volumes that were clear and practical in form and thought.

Like those that came before, anatomical illustrations can be regarded as pieces of art in their own right. Spurred on by the practical nature of Gray’s Anatomy, the works that followed inspired learning in both the arts and sciences.

While providing visual guidance to the complex study of human anatomy for the purposes of medicine and dissection, modern anatomical illustrations are a sum of those that came before in both style and substance. As knowledge of the subject evolved as have styles of illustration, venturing away from the embellished and fantastical to become realistically stylised, providing invaluable reference to those studying the human form.

DIscover the Brilliant Henry Gray's Anatomy

A scientific and artistic triumph, Gray’s Anatomy is one of the most iconic anatomical texts ever to be printed. Rediscover the original 1858 text and illustrations republished in this stunning tribute to the renowned work.

Art of Anatomy: A History of Anatomical Illustration