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Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body
Table 4 in in Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis human (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body), Bernard Siegfried Albinus, Jan Wandelaar, 1747, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 621844.
An Exceptional Atlas
Title page in Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis human (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body), Bernard Siegfried Albinus, Jan Wandelaar, 1747, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 621844.
Created by an anatomist named Bernhard Seigfried Albinus and an artist named Jan Wandelaar, this anatomical atlas revolutionized people’s understanding of the human body. In an age when many of the existing anatomical atlases were inaccurate and cheaply produced, Albinus and Wandelaar recognized the importance of precise techniques and solid partnerships between anatomists and artists.
The Artist and the Anatomist
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus was born in 1697. The son of a professor of medicine and anatomist, Albinus grew up in a home where scientific thinking was encouraged. The family lived in Leiden, Holland, which was one of the prominent academic and cultural cities of Europe. He enrolled in the city’s university when he was 12 years old. When he was 23, he graduated with doctorates in medicine and physics. His primary interest was in botany (the study of plants), but his father and teachers encouraged him to enter the field of anatomy. For the next 50 years, he worked as a professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Leiden. Through his career as a professor, anatomist, and publisher, Albinus became one of the most famous teachers of anatomy in Europe.
Jan Wandelaar was born in 1690. He founded an academy of arts in Amsterdam and established himself as a respected painter, etcher, engraver, and draftsman (someone who draws plans and sketches for machines). His experience drawing nude forms and anatomical studies prepared him to work with Albinus on the anatomical atlas. Wandelaar’s artistic aspirations aligned with Albinus’s anatomical aspirations, and Wandelaar moved to Leiden to work with Albinus.
Albinus was wealthy, and Wandelaar depended on Albinus’s funding. Despite the clear authority Albinus had in the dynamic, Albinus respected Wandelaar’s artistic expertise, and he did not try to exert control over Wandelaar’s drawing technique.
The World of Anatomy
ANA up • TOMY cutting
Illustration (cropped) Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis human (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body), Bernard Siegfried Albinus, Jan Wandelaar, 1747, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 621844.
Anatomy is the branch of science that studies the structures of living organisms (plants and animals, including humans). Anatomy gets its name from the practice of dissecting organisms to study their parts. The study of the structures of living organisms is helpful to medical practitioners because it helps them better understand the bodies they are treating. The study of the structures of living organisms is also helpful to artists because it helps them better understand the bodies they are depicting in their artworks.
To study the structures of humans, anatomists need to make observations by dissecting human bodies. A corpse intended for dissection is called a cadaver. Cadaver dissection was practiced at times in the ancient world but generally fell out of favor until the late Middle Ages. In the 16th century, anatomists reinvented the field by figuring out how to systematically dissect and document a human body. Their works demonstrate ingenuity and dedication.
In the 18th century, anatomists continued to reference many of the works created by their 16th century colleagues. At the start of Albinus’s career, he used anatomical atlases created by Vesalius, one of the best 16th century anatomists. Vesalius’s work had revolutionized anatomical understanding a century and a half before, and his discoveries continue to impact our thinking today. After working with Vesalius’ atlases, Albinus believed that his illustrations did not reflect the most current understanding of anatomy. Albinus built on the knowledge and innovations developed by Vesalius to create his own atlas, and he used advanced printing technology to work in greater detail. Use the image slider below to compare and contrast Vesalius’s and Albinus’s anatomical drawings.
Questions & Prompts
Look closely at Vesalius’s illustration. What is the first thing you notice? What holds your attention? Repeat your close-looking process with Albinus’s illustration. Did the same things catch your eye? Did the same things interest you?
What similarities do you notice between these two illustrations? What differences do you notice?
In what ways do you think Albinus built on Vesalius’s work? Identify details in the illustrations to support your thinking.
Imagine Albinus traveled back in time to talk with Vesalius. What questions do you think Albinus would ask Vesalius? What questions do you think Vesalius would ask Albinus?
Albinus’s Perfect Skeleton
Albinus’s approach to anatomical dissection and illustration was very different from the approach other anatomists used. Albinus believed that nature strives for perfection, and that his job as an anatomist was to depict the perfect human without any distortions or mistakes. He referred to this perfect human by the Latin homo perfectus. He believed that to depict homo perfectus without any mistakes, his atlas needed to meet the standards of symmetry, objectivity, and vitality.
Use the interactive image below to explore the three standards of Albinus’s homo perfectus.
Albinus atlas
Albinus atlas
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Symmetry. Albinus valued symmetry, which he defined as the pleasingly balanced distribution of parts across a body. Albinus believed symmetry in the body was a reflection of the ideal balance of all the parts of the body system. This ideal balance was essential for good health. To meet the standard of symmetry in his atlas, Albinus spent years studying many different cadavers. He identified cadavers that he found aesthetically pleasing and calculated the average dimensions of their skeletons and muscles. Once he had determined the proportions of the homo perfectus, Albinus began searching for a skeleton with these proportions. Eventually, he located an “ideal” skeleton, a young man in the prime of his life, which he used as his model. In his finished works, Albinus left out some small fissures (which held veins and arteries) because he felt these fissures destroyed the symmetry of the body. In what ways does Albinus’s quest for symmetry support an accurate and detailed medical atlas? In what ways does Albinus’s quest for symmetry hinder his creation of an accurate and detailed atlas?
Objectivity. Albinus valued objectivity, which he defined as the life-like depiction of the human body in two dimensions without any artistic distortions. When humans view objects with our eyes, our brains distort the proportions of the object. This distortion is called a foreshortening distortion because the parts of the object closer to us appear larger than they really are. Albinus knew that relying on the artist’s eye alone would create distortions in the atlas. To meet his standard of objectivity, Albinus developed a multi-step system of squares and grids. This complex and labor intensive system reduced perspective-induced distortions by depicting every part of the skeleton at a right angle. First, the skeleton was placed as far from Wandelaar as possible (about 40 feet away). A square grid was placed in front of the skeleton, and Wandelaar copied what he saw into an identical grid. Once he finished his distance sketch, Wamoved closer (about four feet away) to add details. To ensure these details were added at a right angle, Albinus placed a grid with tens of thousands of squares, each exactly 100 times smaller than the squares on the original grid, in front of Wandelaar. Wandelaar looked through the small grid, lining up the squares with those of the large grid so he could check his accuracy as he worked. Once the detailed life-size drawing was complete, Wandelaar created a scale replica of the work on a smaller piece of paper. This smaller piece of paper contained a grid so Wandelaar could copy the image square by square. Finally, the finished, scaled-down drawings were transferred to copper plates for printing. When Wandelaar etched the drawings into the copper, he etched some of the lines deeper into the copper than others. By deepening some of the lines, Wandelaar ensured certain parts of the skeleton stood out.
Vitality. Albinus valued vitality, which he defined as life-like beauty. Cadavers are corpses and corpses are dead, but the medical atlas is intended to help readers understand the workings of a living body. Albinus believed that the living human body was strong, graceful, and harmonious. To meet his standard of vitality, Albinus worked with Wandelaar to create a sense of strength, grace, and harmony in the anatomical drawings. Albinus was in charge of caring for the cadaver and positioning it for Wandelaar to draw. Albinus rested the skeleton’s pelvis on an iron tripod and used a pulley system to pose the skeleton. To keep the skeleton’s pose as life-like as possible, Albinus left the ligaments and joints on the skeleton. This stopped the joints from moving in ways that would be impossible for a living human. Because ligaments and joints harden and begin to decompose once a person dies, Albinus devised interventions to keep the ligaments and joints soft and preserved. To keep the ligaments and joints soft, Albinus made small cuts in the ligaments and sprinkled water into the cuts and the joints. To slow decomposition, Albinus wrapped the ligaments and joints in vinegar-soaked rags every night. Wandelaar was in charge of drawing the skeleton and the backgrounds. To create vitality in the skeleton, Wandelaar referenced a live model in an identical pose. If the skeleton’s pose looked different than the pose created by the living human, Wandelaar knew the pose was not right. Wandelaar suggested adding living plants and animals in the backgrounds of the illustrations, and part of his reason for this suggestion was to bring a sense of life to the overall work, reminding the viewer of the relationship between life and death.
Albinus’s Ideal Muscles
Traditionally, anatomists began their work with the surface of the body and proceeded inward, documenting the muscles layer by layer until they reached the skeleton. When he first got started, Albinus took the traditional approach. However, Wandelaar found that this method did not allow him to create accurate drawings because the muscles were moved around during the deeper dissections. To create a work of unmatched accuracy, Albinus created a new approach to the work: He decided to work from the skeleton outwards.
Once he had completed the skeleton using the method above, Albinus began to sketch the muscles. His goal was to represent all muscles in their ideal proportions. Starting with the skeleton helped him with this because he calculated these ideal proportions by scaling the muscles to his homo perfectus skeleton. He sourced “ideal” muscles from several cadavers, selecting for size, position, insertion, and action. Wandelaar developed an adaptation formula that he used if a muscle was slightly too large or too small to be copied directly onto the skeleton.
Wandelaar created three “muscle man” illustrations for each skeleton. Each illustration shows a different layer of muscles on the body. Albinus decided that each layer must show the body in an identical position. Using an identical position helped to ensure that the illustration was accurate since the artist could not change the viewpoint to make the results look better. The identical position also helped the viewer understand how the layers relate to one another. In the finished atlas, viewers first encounter the illustration of the fully covered “muscle man.” As they flip through the pages, the viewer experiences the journey through the muscle layers to the skeleton. Flip through the images below to experience the journey for yourself.
Questions & Prompts
Look closely at each image. What do you notice first? What do you notice after looking for a full minute?
Choose one body part you can see on this model (head, shoulder, spine, knee, etc.). Create four sketches to show what this body part looks like in each image. What changes as you progress through the layers of muscle?
Identify three similarities across all four images. Identify three differences across all four images.
How did Albinus and Wandelaar use observations of the natural world when creating this work?
How did Albinus and Wandelaar use imagination and creativity when creating this work?
What questions do you think Albinus had about the human body before he started his work?
How did Albinus and Wandelaar make observations? How did they document their observations?
What do you think Albinus was trying to communicate? What do you see in the object that makes you think that?
What questions do you think Albinus had about the human body after creating his work?
How does Albinus’s culture affect his understanding of the human body?
What do you think Albinus was most proud of about this work? What do you think Wandelaar was most proud of about this work?
Albinus’s vision for a detailed, anatomically accurate medical atlas would not have been possible without the artistic talents of Wandelaar. Albinus was a perfectionist. If a drawing had a single line that did not match his vision of homo perfectus, Albinus would have Wandelaar redo the entire drawing. In this restrictive environment, it was difficult for Wandelaar to find moments for artistic creativity. However, he succeeded in creating opportunities for artistic expression. Watch this Close Looking at the H video to explore one of the illustrations through an artistic lens.
An important part of a medical atlas is the key, which informs the reader about how the written information relates to the illustrated information. However, Albinus did not want the key to cover up any of Wandelaar’s beautiful and informative art. He came up with a solution. He had Wandelaar create another engraving, an exact copy of the figure’s outline, and used that to provide the key. This innovation became very popular with other atlas authors who also wanted to preserve the beauty and information in their illustrations. Zoom in on the image below to look closely at one of these outlines and the accompanying text.
Explanation for Table 8 in Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis human (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body), Bernard Siegfried Albinus, Jan Wandelaar, 1747, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 621844
Clara’s Contributions
Illustration of Clara in Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis human (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body), Bernard Siegfried Albinus, Jan Wandelaar, 1747, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 621844.
In addition to Albinus and Wandelaar, someone else contributed to the success of this medical atlas. Clara the rhinoceros was two-and-a-half years old when she arrived in the Netherlands in 1741. Europeans had been fascinated by rhinos since the first illustration of one arrived in Europe centuries earlier, but very few Europeans had ever seen one in real life. Clara was the first rhino to make a grand European tour, and she became a celebrity. Albinus and Wandelaar visited Clara in Amsterdam and knew she could help make their atlas popular. Clara’s portrait, drawn by Wandelaar is included in the background of the atlas’ most well-known illustration. Albinus and Wandelaar published this illustration separately, spreading it throughout Europe as an advertisement for their atlas. What do you think this experience was like for Clara?
References and Resources
Albinus, Bernard Siegfried, Robert Beverly Hale, and Terence Coyle. 1979. Albinus on Anatomy. New York; London: Watson Guptill Publications.
Choulant, Ludwig, and Frank Mortimer. 1962. History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration. New York: Hafner
Punt, Hendrick. 1983. Bernard Siegfried Albinus (1697-1770), On “Human Nature”: Anatomical and Physiological Ideas in Eighteenth Century Leiden. Amsterdam: Israël.
Ridley, Glynis. 2006. Clara’s Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe. New York: Grove Press.
