Anathomia Corporis Humani...the Tablet

A note before we start: some of this information has been copied pretty directly from Wikipedia and other sites. That information is italicized.  Also, I use the phrase ‘some say’ as an abbreviated way to tell you that this all happened a long time ago, and there are various theories on exactly what happened. At the end of this post, I will give you links to websites with more information, OK? 

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Mondino de Luzzi, (ca. 1270 – 1326), was an Italian professor of surgery. His major work, Anathomia Corporis Humani, written in 1316, is considered the first example of a modern dissection manual.  He made lasting, (if not completely accurate) contributions to the field of anatomy. This is the image that comes up when you google:

 For anatomy classes, the professor would sit in a large, ornate elevated chair, reading from an anatomical text, while a demonstrator actually performed the dissection.

So, he did dissections and wrote about them, which was a very big deal at the time.

Today, I can google ‘dissections’ and get a very detailed photo of the human body being opened and displayed. Before my husband had surgery, he was able to see a video of the procedure online! However, for most of history, dissections were forbidden, which made for some very inaccurate anatomical knowledge. The ancient Egyptians (who mummified bodies, which included opening and rummaging around inside) had a pretty good knowledge of anatomy.  Some say when Alexander the Great ruled Egypt, around 330BCE, a change in attitude allowed two Greek scientists, Herophilus and Erasistratus, to do dissections. As a member of the well-known scholastic community in the newly founded city of Alexandria during the single, brief period in Greek medical history when the ban on human dissection was lifted.

They did many dissections. Some say they did vivisections (cutting open people while still alive).There doesn’t seem to be anything definitive, but 1. They gained a great deal of information and 2. the charges of vivisection stopped dissections for centuries. No more human dissections. Some say the Catholic Church was responsible for the ban but, as I read further, it looks like they’re probably off the hook for this one. Around 200 AD Galen copied (?) as much as he could of the knowledge gained by Herophilus and Erasistratus, and added what he could from dissecting animals….which caused mistakes that were taken as fact for centuries. And that was that until 1316….when Mondino reintroduced the practice of public human dissection and wrote the first modern anatomical text. 

Images from various copies of the book. I started my composition with the dissection scene for the center one (above) and the reader-in-the-chair from the first picture.

Mondino lead the dissection from a chair situated on a podium and read aloud from Galen’s books.  If the findings did not match the descriptions, they were interpreted as morphological transmutation …does this mean that words have changed meaning in translation, or that this particular body is different than the norm presented by Galen?

Anyhow, I gathered up a few more supporting players and re-cast…

Still a lot of empty space there, Diane. How about we cram in some guts?

There are some truly gruesome images from old medical texts..

The final corpse is a composite.

Anatomical instruments and a human heart…..

…which I put in the hands of the crowd.

And a first, totally dreadful attempt at color.

Again, I’ve copied from the masters to get my colors. In this case, a painting by Benjamin West: “Erasistratus the Physician Discovers the Love of Antiochus for Stratonice” was painted in 1772.  The painting derives its subject from a legend loosely based on Greek history. West’s picture tells the story of Seleucus, the king of Syria, who has summoned the eminent Greek physician Erasistratus to diagnose a mysterious ailment afflicting his son Antiochus. After observing the prince’s behavior, the doctor concludes that Antiochus is suffering from unrequited love. West depicts the moment when Erasistratus—taking Antiochus’s pulse—discovers that Antiochus longs for his own stepmother, Stratonice. According to legend, the king gave his wife to his beloved son, saving his life.

Did you catch that tile? Erastratus the Physician? That’s right, one of the two men who did all those dissections in ancient Greece (or Alexandria). No, that’s not why I chose this particular painting, but it’s a delightful little connection.

Damn: even when copying I can’t get it right! Why did I change my plan and paint him YELLOW? (or did the dye I painted just give me a different result??)

Originally, the guy in the bright orange clothing was cutting with a horizontal knife. I changed that into a perpendicular probing tool to make it more visually comprehensible.

Sewing, sewing, sewing. OK, here’s how far I’ve gotten:

Well I’ll be darned: the yellow works! It creates a bright center, drawing in your eye. Not finished, but coming along well. Some details:

If you’re interested, here are some websites to learn more:

http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/12/17/herophilus-and-erasistratus/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3026179/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herophilus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissection

As usual, contact me at dianesavona@aol.com