Andreas Vesalius, The Reformer of Anatomy — Publication Of The Fabrica

[Illustration: Illuminated capital] On the first day of August, 1542, after three years of strenuous labor, Vesalius completed the _Fabrica_, and twelve days later he wrote the last word of the _Epitome_.

The blocks for the _Fabrica_, and also those for the _Epitome_, were made in Italy.

In the summer of 1542 they were conveyed to Basel by a merchant named Danoni and were safely delivered to the printer, Oporinus.

They were accompanied by a long Latin letter, written by Vesalius to his friend, “Joannes Oporinus, professor of Greek letters in Basel”.

He begs Oporinus to take the greatest care that the printed illustrations shall correspond with the proofs which accompany the blocks.

“Every detail must be distinctly visible, so that each cut shall have the effect of a picture”.

Early in the following year Vesalius went to Basel to superintend the printing of his books.

While there, he conducted a demonstration in anatomy—the first which had occurred in that city since 1531—and presented the articulated skeleton of the subject to the University.

Part of this skeleton exists today.

It is thought to be the oldest anatomical preparation in existence.

The Fabrica The heart of Vesalius must have filled with joy when he saw the final page of his book turned from the press.

The treatise which founded modern anatomy bears this title:— _Andreae Desalii Brurellensis, Scholae medicorum Patabinae professoris, de humani corporis fabrica Libri septem.

Basileae.

_ MDXLIII

A fortune was lavished upon the illustration and publication of this grand work.

To use the words of Fisher, “it was and is a glorious book, a rare and precious monument of genius, industry and liberality”.

It abounds with curious initial letters bearing quaint and interesting anatomical conceits, each one teaching its lesson.

One of these, reduced in size, introduces the present chapter; and it was this letter that Vesalius used in his opening sentence: _Os caeterarum hominis partium est durissimum & ardissimum, maximaque terrestre & frigidum, & sensus denique praeter solos dentes expers.

_ [Illustration: JOANNES OPORINUS] The first edition of the _Fabrica_ is a folio volume with magnificent illustrations on wood, all carefully printed by Joannes Oporinus (1507-1568) of Basel.

The title-page is a beautiful engraving which represents Vesalius at work dissecting a female subject.

He is surrounded by interested spectators who crowd the amphitheatre.

The abdomen of the subject is opened.

Vesalius has raised his left hand; his right hand grasps a small rod which rests on the viscera.

The great teacher is talking to his pupils.

Placed at the head of the dissecting table is an upright skeleton which grasps a long staff with its right hand.

In the audience are many persons of different rank.

To the left a naked man is climbing a pillar, while to the right, and below, a dog is being brought into the arena.

To the left, and below, is a monkey which appears to enjoy the demonstration.

Above, in the architecture, we see the monogram of the publisher, Oporinus; in the centre, on a shield, are the three weasels of the Vesalius family, and below, is a shield which bears the privilegium.

This old engraving is one of the most spirited and elaborate to be found in the whole range of medical literature.

In the 1725 edition, for which Jan Wandelaar made copperplate reproductions of the original figures, the title-page is altered:—the monogram of Oporinus is absent and the architecture is slightly changed.

[Illustration: MARK OF OPORINUS] Who was the unnamed artist?

It is noteworthy that Vesalius does not state who drew the illustrations, or who cut them in wood, for his _Fabrica_.

He only states that this book has cost him a monstrous amount of labor in the preparation of the dissections, and in the directing of the eye, the hand, and the intelligence of the artist.

He complains bitterly of the obstinacy of the artist, who, at times so tormented him that he—Vesalius—considered himself more unfortunate than the criminal whose body had been dissected[21].

It was probably owing to this unpleasant experience that Vesalius omitted the artist’s name.

The great anatomist speaks regretfully of the large sums which he was obliged to pay, in order to induce skilled artists to undertake this class of work.

He states that they were much more interested in painting Venus and The Graces than in drawing pictures of skinned and foul smelling bodies.

Moehsen[22] assumes that Vesalius had Titian in mind when he penned these thoughts, but this is questionable.

It is not surprising that eminent artists should have disliked anatomical drawing, at a time when antiseptic injections and preserving fluids were not known.

Foul odors had no terrors for the great Belgian, who haunted cemeteries for anatomical material and often kept parts of cadavers in his bedchamber for weeks at a time.

For a period of two centuries the Vesalian pictures were ascribed to Titian, but on insufficient grounds.

The famous Venetian painter was over sixty years of age at the time of the publication of the _Fabrica_;

his services were much in demand, and he was signally honored by the Spanish emperor, Charles the Fifth.

His powers remained undiminished until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1576. He had the ability to make the Vesalian illustrations, but it is doubtful if he had the time.

Although Titian may have taken an interest in these anatomical plates, it is not now believed that he drew them.

[Illustration: JAN STEPHAN VAN CALCAR] The Vesalian pictures have been attributed to Christoforo Coriolano; but he could not have been the artist, since his earliest work dates from 1568. He is known to have furnished the drawings for Jerome Mercurialis’s _De Arte Gymnastica_, and for Vasari’s _Lives of the Painters_.

Roth is of the opinion that Vesalius himself made most of the illustrations; but such a view would credit the comparatively short and busy life of the great anatomist with too much accomplishment.

I conclude that the illustrations for the _Fabrica_, like the osseous figures in the _Tabulae Anatomicae_, which Vesalius issued in 1538, were made by Jan Stephan van Calcar (+1546), the favorite pupil of Titian.

Sandrart[23] states that van Calcar made the drawings for the _Fabrica_;

that he went to Venice in 1536 or 1537; that he studied under Titian;

and that his paintings were of such merit that they were often mistaken for those of Titian, Raphael, and Rubens.

Van Calcar was a Fleming, a native of Kalcker in the Duchy of Cleves.

The date of his birth is not known.

His death occurred at Naples in 1546. He was highly esteemed by Vesalius who speaks of him as ranking “with the divine and happy wits of Italy”.

The anatomical plates which Vesalius issued in 1538 were made, he states, by van Calcar:—_sumptibus Joannis Stephani Calcarensis_.

These plates, which appeared in the form of pictorial broad sheets, or _Fliegende Blätter_, may be likened to the Herald who goes in advance to announce the coming of the King.

They were engraved on wood, and, like their companion pictures in the _Fabrica_, they were unprecedented in magnitude and in minuteness.

[Illustration: SECOND VESALIAN PLATE OF THE MUSCLES (From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)] The Vesalian plates vary greatly in merit.

The most satisfactory ones are those depicting the undissected body and the bones and muscles.

The artist was not at his best in drawing the nervous system, although it is claimed that Vesalius had prepared his neurologic specimens with great care.

For the use of artists, the best plates are the three skeletons and the four entire myologic figures in the _Fabrica_.

The first myologic figure, showing a man who has been divested of all skin, fat, and superficial fascia, presents the muscles of the anterior portion of the body beautifully delineated.

Vesalius took much pride in this plate, and directed the attention of artists to it.

The second plate, which is constructed along similar lines, shows the body in its lateral aspect.

The head is thrown slightly backward, the right hand pointing to the earth and the left raised towards the horizon, and the whole attitude of the subject calls to mind the position which an orator would assume when addressing an audience.

The third myologic plate is similar to the first one, but the muscles of the face are exhibited to better advantage and the aponeuroses, absent in the first plate, are here present.

The fourth plate, which is the ninth in Vesalius’s work (_nona musculorum tabula_), presents the muscles of the posterior part of the body.

The other myologic figures show the deeper muscles, layer by layer, and are of value to an artist who wishes to study the effect of their action upon the superficial parts of the body.

Hence many of these figures have been reproduced in works on art-anatomy.

The artist who studies these plates should remember that the figures in question are divested of skin, fat, and superficial veins—all of which must be supplied, in order to avoid giving too great prominence to the muscles.

The two naked figures contained in the _Epitome_ are properly clothed in skin and are of great artistic merit.

They also are to be seen in numerous works on art-anatomy.

Thus, in one of the earliest books on anatomy for the use of artists (_Abrégé d’anatomie accommodé aux arts de peinture et de sculpture.

_ Paris, 1667, 1668), Rogers de Piles and François Tortebat have used the three skeletons and seven myologic figures taken from the _Fabrica_ and the _Epitome_.

In the preface of his book, de Piles says that he does not think it is possible to produce better figures than those found in the works of Vesalius.

That he was not alone in this opinion is shown by the fact that many other artists, who have composed treatises on art-anatomy, have drawn freely from the Vesalian storehouse.

An Italian, Giacomo Moro, in his anatomy for the use of artists, (_Anatomia ridotta ad uso de’ pittori e scultore.

_ Venice 1679), reproduced nineteen of Vesalius’s figures in copperplate.

[Illustration: NINTH VESALIAN PLATE, OF THE MUSCLES (From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)] The popularity of Vesalius’s anatomical figures among painters was due, not only to the intrinsic worth of these illustrations, but also to the erroneous belief that the original drawings were the work of Titian.

This opinion found expression on the title-pages of several works on art-anatomy.

For example, in 1706, Moschenbauer, of Augsburg, issued a folio volume illustrated with Vesalian figures cut in wood, with this title:—_Andreae Vesalii, Bruxellensis, des ersten besten Anatomici, Zergliederung des menschlichen Körpers auf Mahlerey, and Bildhauer-Kunst gerichtet, die Figuren von Titian gezeichnet_.

An anonymous book, _Notomia di Titanio_, appeared in Italy about the year 1670. The Vesalian figures of the skeleton were also issued in single sheets with moralistic verses appended.

Moehsen cites one of these with the inscription printed in French: “De cet objet affreux tu parois rebutté, Est c’est ce que dans peu cependant tu dois étre: Apprens, mortel, a te connoître Ce miroir est le seul, ou tu n’est point flatté”.

Another legend reminds the reader that he is only dust, and to dust he must return:—“_Vous estes poudre, & vous retournéres en poudre_”.

[Illustration: A HUMAN SKULL RESTING ON THE SKULL OF A DOG (From the “Fabrica”, 1543)] CHAPTER TENTH

Publication of the Epitome