Animated Gif of an Ivory Anatomical Manikin Undergoing Auto Dissection

I found this wonderful ivory anatomical manikin imagination on the blog of the Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books at the University of Missouri Libraries via the wonderful Tumblr account of Paula A. Ruiz, who kindly answered my recent call for imagery related to the Anatomical Venus.

More on the piece, sourced from the blog, below;  you can read the whole piece, and see more images, by clicking here.

... This object is an ivory anatomical manikin that belongs to the collection of the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library here at the University of Missouri. It is probably German, dates from the eighteenth century, and is about 11 inches long...

Ivory manikins such as this one may have been used as educational tools by male doctors.  It’s not clear who was the intended audience for the objects. Were they used to demonstrate basic anatomy to medical students? Or laypeople? Or were they simply luxury objects, curiosities to be kept in a doctor’s study?

Most of the ivory anatomical manikins still extant today are pregnant females. The artist of this figure even connected the fetus to the womb with a small piece of thread to represent the umbilical cord.  Whether or not the imagination was something the original owner of this figure considered, we do not know.

Vesalius: Imagining the Body Exhibition, Leuven, Belgium: A Guest Post by Michael Sappol, National Library of Medicine

Following is another guest post by our good friend Michael Sappol--author of A Traffic of Dead Bodies, curator of Dream Anatomy, and historian at the National Library of Medicine--about an excellent looking exhibition in Leuven:

I recently had the privilege of participating in a brilliant three-day international conference on “Bodies Beyond Borders: The Circulation of Anatomical Knowledge, 1750-1950”.  The symposium — a smart mix of well-established scholars and new talent — was held in Leuven, Belgium, an ancient city full of charmingly twisted cobblestone streets and alleys. In the central square, the old town hall is covered from top to bottom with hundreds of stone figures. It’s a “where’s Waldo” exercise to spot anybody in particular, but one of the figures is the founder of modern anatomy, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564). Vesalius twice studied at the University of Leuven (1530, 1536) before going on to Padua, where he performed dissections, gave lectures, wrote treatises and authored De humani corporis fabrica (1543), the first great illustrated atlas of anatomy.

Leuven also has a wonderful art museum: “M-Museum”. To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Vesalius’s birth, M has put on a brilliant show of anatomical art and objects. As one might expect, there are first editions of Vesalius, along with a register from the 1530s that lists Vesalius as one of the students enrolled in the university. But the exhibition goes from there right up to the present, and features many rare and amazing drawings, paintings, prints, models, sculptures, even the first x-ray “cinematograph” (1898). Highlights for me: Clemente Susini’s exquisite wax sculpture of a dissected cadaveric head (4th image down; 1798); Jan Wandelaar’s bigger than life-size sketches for Albinus’s Tabulae sceleti et musculorum (ca. 1726); a brilliantly hand-colored engraving of a 17th-century Dutch anatomical theater (bottom image); and… (Actually, I loved almost everything on display, and also love the way it was displayed. Congratulations to curator Geert Vanpaemel!)

You probably wish you could go to Leuven to see this show, but you can’t: it closes on January 18. (Boo-hoo.) (Sob.)

Following is more info about the exhibition, from the M-Museum website; you can find out more by clicking here.

From THU 02/10 until SUN 18/01
M-Museum Leuven
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28, 3000 Leuven
Curator: Geert Vanpaemel

The exhibition at M is the beating heart and the must see highlight of the citywide project, both for Vesalius experts and novices.

The exhibition highlights various and unexpected sides of Vesalius. You can admire the original version of the voluminous book 'Fabrica' or page through the digital version. Discover all about his life, work and life's work, from his humanist background to his direct influence on his contemporaries.

Discover how Greek sculpture inspired Vesalius, walk among detailed anatomical sketches and wax statues, and meet the famous Glass Man. Be amazed by the 'living' dead who candidly reveal what is concealed under their skin and experience how Vesalius' anatomical knowledge lives on in art and science. For example, even Rodin and Matisse were inspired by Vesalius' muscle men.

The exhibition presents a life-sized replica of an anatomical theatre – the place where live dissections were once performed. The exhibition also focuses on the evolution of medical imaging over the past 500 years. You can see how anatomy developed into a fully-fledged branch of medicine and how the human body gradually revealed its secrets over the centuries. Thanks to the possibilities that 3D modelling now provide, you can also explore the medical science of the future.

Vesalius will get under the skin of all the visitors to M, that much is certain. But you will also be captivated by the other cultural projects related to the world-famous anatomist. So come prepared!

Images:

1. Franz Tschackert, De Glazen man, 1930 © Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, inv. Volker Kreidler 1962.
2. Jacques Gautier D'Agoty , compleat Myologie color and natural size, 1746
3. Andreas Vesalius, De Tabulae Anatomicae, ca. 1540 © Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, inv. Imp II 42.417 C Est. 
4. William Pink, Smugglerius, 1834 (orig. 1775)  © Isabelle Arthuis 
5. Clemente Susini, De innervatie van het gezicht, 1798. © Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Parijs - Direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.
6. Waxwork by Clemente Susini and painting  Anatomy Lesson of Dr . Frederik Ruysch by Adriaen Backer © Isabelle Arthuis 
7. Bust of a woman by André -Pierre Pinson and painting ' Anatomy Lesson of Dr . Frederik Ruysch ' from ' Adriaen Backer © Isabelle Arthuis 
8. Installation photo, © Isabelle Arthuis 
9. Anatomical theater, Joannes Blaeu Show Neel of the cities of the Vereenighde, Netherlands, with their descriptions 1649 © Royal Library of Belgium , III 94 530 E 1  

Ticket to an Anatomical Lecture with Cupids and Human Skull, 1809

Ticket to an anatomical lecture given by Doctor Alexander Ramsay (ca. 1754-1824), dated 1809, which granted Samuel A. Bradley Esquire, "admission to 'Anatomy and Physiology or the 1st Course No. 13' which likely included a live dissection of a cadaver."

Found here.

The Body Anatomized: New Studio Art and Art History Class with School of Visual Art's Jonathon Rosen, Beginning June 2

We at Morbid Anatomy are beyond delighted to be offering "The Body Anatomized," a new hybrid studio art and art history class with Jonathon Rosen of the School of Visual Art. Over eight sessions, our instructor Jonathon Rosen will present illustrated lectures covering the rich and storied history of anatomical visualization, covering everything from Catholic relics to the "flayed angels" of Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty (top image); Italian wax Anatomical Venuses to the diagrammatic illustrations of Christian Wilhelm Braune (middle image); Clive Barker’s Faust to the man machine of Fritz Kahn (bottom image). Under Jonathon's ongoing critical feedback and guidance, students will generate finished artworks in the medium of their choice incorporating medicine or anatomy as a point of departure, be it personal or political, didactic or obscure.

The course runs over 8 Mondays from June 2nd to July 21st. The class is limited to only 20 people. Full details follow, and tickets can be purchased here. Hope very much to see you there!

The Body Anatomized: Art Studio and History Class with SVA's Jonathon Rosen
Dates: Mondays June 2 to July 21 (8 sessions)
Admission: $300 (Must purchase ticket here)
Time: 7-10pm
Class limited to 20 people
Morbid Anatomy Museum (New Space) , 424A 3rd Avenue (Corner of 7th Street and 3rd Avenue)
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Temple of the soul or soft machine? The body is where human art, science, culture, politics and medicine all intersect. This hybrid lecture/studio course takes inspiration from artists ancient to post-modern who use medicine and anatomy as a point of departure for personal, political, religious or scientific commentary.

Over eight sessions, Jonathon Rosen will explore the influence of traditional medical imagery on contemporary art-making and pop culture through the lens of history, culture and aesthetics. Examples will range from medieval doctor’s sketchbooks and illuminated manuscripts, via Renaissance medical surrealism and 19^th century medical devices, to contemporary works by Damien Hirst, John Isaacs, the virtual human project, BodyWorlds, and beyond. On the way we will also touch on aesthetic surgery, genetics, biomechanics, medical museums, anatomy in movies and French underground comics.

With Jonathon's ongoing critical feedback and guidance, students will generate finished artworks incorporating medicine or anatomy as a point of departure, be it personal or political, didactic or obscure. This work can be singular or narrative, 2D, 3D, static or moving, in any medium, and projects are not required to be anatomically correct (and please note: Jonathon will not be giving how-to instruction in traditional medical illustration). There will also be an ongoing in-class assignment, based around anatomizing pre-existing vintage images.

SYLLABUS

Class 1: Coming Attractions. A visual overview of the course as an introduction to the history of medical-art & imagery including an introduction to your instructor’s work. Discussion of class, homework and assignments.

Class 2: Sacred Anatomy and Materia Medica. The invention of scientific illustration: The earliest printed medical textbooks and the pioneers of human dissection. From early Islamic to late medieval European. Barbers, surgeons and wound men, demons, miraculous limb transplants, hybrid monsters and diagnosis by zodiac.

Class 3: The emergence of modernity and the culture of dissection in Renaissance culture. Vesalius, Leonardo Da Vinci, Realdo Colombo, Charles Estienne, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi.

Class 4: Medical Chic: Baroque to Enlightenment era. The Anatomy Theater, Albinus. The Altlas of Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery. Hogarth and satires of medicine. Spotlight on Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty.

Class 5: 19th century; Optical devices, x-rays, prosthetics, automatons, pop-up books & anatomical manikins. Medical Museums, Mutter, Vrolik, La Specola & wax figuration. Etienne-Jules Marey and motion capture.

Class 6: 20^th century; Medical Industrial Complex: Fritz Khan and mechanical/ metaphorical bodies. Vintage Educational anatomy & health films: How the eyes and ears work. Illustrations by Netter. Vintage Chinese medical posters.

Class 7: Fantastic Voyage: Clive Barker’s Faust, Stan Brakhage’s the act of seeing with one’s own eyes. Body Worlds. New imaging: virtual cadavers, prosthetics, braces, body scanning, genetics, medical animation. Growing body parts and sensor-driven prosthetics. New Artists including; Marseille collective Le Dernier Cri’s Hopital Brut, Damien Hurst, John Isaacs.

Class 8
: Final project due / critique.

Jonathon Rosen is a NY-based artist and animator who teaches at the School of Visual Arts. He has worked with Jean Michel Basquiat and Tim Burton (the journal drawings, Sleepy Hollow), and made artwork for ID Magazine, Popular Science, Oxford Review, New Scientist, Psychology Today, Discover Magazine, RCA Records, Rolling Stone, MTV, the New York Times Science Times and Sunday Magazine, and many more. His work has been shown at PS.1, and is in the collections of David Cronenberg and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Images:

1. Gautier D'Agoty; Anatomy of a Woman's Spine via here.
2. Christian Wilhelm Braune, via Ars Anatomica. 
3. Fritz Kahn via here.

Anatomical Ex-Voto of Lungs from The Morbid Anatomy Library : Guest Report by Museum Studies Student Liza Young, St. John's University

Liza Young--a museum studies student at St. John's University--recently chose a Neapolitan tin votive, or ex-voto, residing in the Morbid Anatomy Library as the subject for a school research project. Her task: to take an artifact of her choosing and research its provenance, situate it historically, and write for it a museum-quaility object record. 

Below are her findings in truncated version; you can read a much more detailed report of her investigation by clicking here; you can find out more about Liza and her work by clicking here.

Anatomical Ex-Voto of Lungs from The Morbid Anatomy Library
Work Type: Italian Religious Visual Work
Title: Anatomical Votives of Lungs, or Ex-Voto
Creator: Unknown
Material: Tin
Dimensions: 3 ¾ x 4 ¼ inches 
Work Type: Italian Religious Visual Work
Creation Date: 1890-1960
Subject: Religion
Style: Catholic
Culture: Italian
Materials and Technique: Tin plate stamped with image of lungs

The artifact I have chosen for this project was discovered at a flea market in Italy by Joanna Ebenstein, the Creative Director of the Morbid Anatomy Library and Museum. This anatomical ex-voto, or votive, bears a stamped image of the ailing lungs of an unknown Catholic Italian. Anatomical ex-votos function as representations of body parts that are either in need of a saint’s blessing, or as an homage of thanks to a saint for a blessing given. The external parts of the body may be used more metaphorically. A leg may represent an injury or a request for safe travel. Eyes may create a connection between the living and the dead (not unlike darshan). Internal organs, on the other hand, tend to relate directly to a literal illness. Today they are used primarily in Greek Orthodox and Catholic practices, where they are known as tama (Greek) and milagros, dijes, or promesas (Spanish). The exact date of this object is unknown, though it is likely that it was created in the early half of the 20th century. This dating is derived in part by the presence of two golden orbs on the left lung, which indicates a specific understanding of where the individual’s disease was located, implying the existence of advanced medical practice.

Thanks so much, Liza, for this excellent report, and we hope to work with you again in the future!

Image: © The Morbid Anatomy Library

Corpses of Siamese twins, Everard Crijnsz. van der Maes, 1630, The Hague Historical Museum

Corpses of Siamese twins, Everard Crijnsz. van der Maes, 1630, The Hague Historical Museum. This image was kindly sent in by Morbid Anatomy reader Pipi Lotta in the Netherlands, who explains:

This painting was painted by order of the Court of Holland and donated to the Theatrum Anatomicum. In 1628 the States of Holland had payed Gerrit Claesse from Woerden 50 guilders for the bodies of his Siamese daughters. The Government wanted to do autopsy in the examination hall of the Theatrum Anatomicum and do so research on conjoined twins.

Apparently it was such a special event that the painter Van der Maes was commissioned to make a painting of it. He got paid for 36 guilders.

To read about this painting in the original dutch, click here. To find out more about the exhibition in which it was shown, click here.

Anatomical Votives and Milagros: A Guest Post by Anatomical Artist Emily Evans

Following is a guest post about anatomical votives by London-based anatomical artist Emily Evans, based on her dissertation on the same subject. You can her excellent artwork--which takes the anatomical body and death as a point of departure--in our gift shop by clicking here. She will also be the Morbid Anatomy Museum artist in residence for July 2014, overseeing a month devoted to art and anatomy, so stay tuned for more on that!

A votive is an offering made usually as an act of worship to a deity or a saint in fulfillment of a vow or when expressing a vow or a wish. The custom of manufacture and use of anatomical votives was prolific in ancient Greece and Rome from 400BC to 400AD. These offerings were made to deities of health and medicine, either in the hope for a cure or in thanks for one. These often life size fragments of the human body were usually modeled in terracotta although materials including metals and stone were used for those that could afford them. They were placed in temples dedicated to the healing gods of the time, most notably, Asklepios.

Most parts of the body were represented by these anatomical votives, each part adopting various theories for their use for healing. Votives have been found depicting practically every part of the body, both internally and externally, although eyes, head, hands, breasts, male genitals and feet were most common.

Despite the rise of Hippocratic medicine, only the wealthy could afford a Greek doctor. Although adhering to entirely differing principles, the two beliefs of healing divinities and Hippocratic medicine co existed within society.

Gradually the saints of the Christian church adopted the powers of the Greek and Roman deities.

In modern day, anatomical votives are small metal religious charms that are pinned or hung at altars and shrines in thankgiving for a miracle received. Modern Catholic and Orthodox European votives are often referred to as ex votos, short for ex voto suscepto meaning “from the vow made” in Latin. In colonial Latin America, they are referred to as Milagros meaning ‘miracles’ in Spanish.

 

They are commonly used in two types of ways; a person may ask a favor from a saint (known as a ‘manda’ in Mexico) and in order to repay the saint after the favor has been granted, they will make a pilgrimage to the shrine of that saint and leave the Milagro there. Alternatively, people might carry a Milagros with them for good luck, especially if it has been blessed by a spiritual healer.

They can range in size from less than ½ inch to several inches and vary in style and material depending on the cultures that produce them. Most are from Peru, Germany, Mexico and Italy ranging in metals from silver, pewter, copper, nickel and other metals.

The meanings of the votives are always up to interpretation. For example a heart could represent a heart condition or affairs of the heart. Equally a leg could mean arthritis or traveling, or a penis could mean fertility.

Internal body parts are usually offered when asking for help with a particular ailment.

Eye Milagros are commonly associated with the Mexican saint Santa Lucia whom people make mandas to her about eye conditions. Eyes can also be attached to the image of the deceased to represent the spirit of that person watching over us.

Images:

1. Breast votive, courtesy of the private collection of Elizabeth Anderson
2. Terracotta votives, Wellcome images
3. Italian silver stomach votive, Tesoros Trading Company
4. Brass vertebrae votive, courtesy of the private collection of Elizabeth Anderson
5. Brass Abdomen votive, courtesy of the private collection of Elizabeth Anderson
6. Variety of anatomical votives, courtesy of the private collection of Elizabeth Anderson
7. Nickel copper anatomical torso votive is also Tesoros Trading Company
8. Eye votive, courtesy of the private collection of Elizabeth Anderson

Anatomical Alphabet from William Cowper's "Myotomia Reformata," 1724; By Paul Dijstelberge of the Special Collections Amsterdam

Paul Dijstelberge of the Special Collections Amsterdam has created a fantastic (if not quite complete) anatomical alphabet from initial caps drawn which pepper William Cowper's 1724 book Myotomia Reformata: or an Anatomical Treatise on the Muscles of the Human Body.

You can see the whole collection on the blog "A Beautiful Book"by clicking here. You can find more about this book in a recent guest post by Morbid Anatomy for the New York Academy of Medicine.

Thanks so much to Eve Sinaiko for sharing!

Anatomy meets Pornography, Fetal Skeleton Tableaux and Criminology and The Surrealists : Morbid Anatomy Guest Posts for the New York Academy of Medicine Blog

Interested in knowing more about an early anatomical text's direct relationship to pornography (top two images)? Or the fetal skeleton tableaux of "artist of death" Frederik Ruysch (second image down)? Or perhaps you'd be interested in knowing more about the relationship between a pioneering criminology text and surrealist art (bottom two images)?

If any or all of these things are of interest, click here to check out some new, heavily-illustrated Morbid Anatomy guest posts on the wonderful New York Academy of Medicine's "Books, Health and History" Blog.

Also, don't forget to save the date for the October 5th Festival of Medical History and the Arts at NYAM, co-curated by Morbid Anatomy and Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson and his Cabinet of Wonders. You can find more on that here, and more on a few anatomical workshops offered as part of that event by clicking here.

Anatomical Lecture Certificate Engraved by Paul Revere (!), 18th Century

In a random image search today, I stumbled upon this lovely anatomical lecture certificate featuring an engraving by 18th century American patriot Paul Revere. It turns out that Mr. Revere, in addition to his famous midnight ride--as explained by the Illustrated Inventory of Paul Revere's works at the American Antiquarian Society website--also worked in dentistry, iron, and engraving. The design on the certificate above, wherein a "man with rolled sleeves operates on a corpse on a round table" is said to be one of his works.

Full details follow; You can find out more about the image and Paul Revere's engravings more generally by clicking here. Click on image to see larger, more detailed version.

Anatomical Lectures Certificate.

[mss. 1785]; sheet: (23.5 x 19 cm). plate: (19 x 15 cm). Link to record. 

Brigham plate 48. Link to Brigham.

Engraved certificate featuring a bust portrait of a bald Galen (AD 129 – 199/217) facing right surrounded by a medallion-shaped Chippendale border. Additional Chippendale bordering and two surgical skeletons flank the manuscript and engraved text in the center. Beneath the text is an anatomical scene where a man with rolled sleeves operates on a corpse on a round table; the corpse has a rope, presumably the remains of a noose, around his neck. On the table, accompanying the body are a blanket and surgical tool.

The certificate reads, both engraved and manuscript text, “These may certify that Mr Levi Bartlett has diligently attended an entire course of my Anatomical Lectures & Demonstrations; together with Physiological & Surgical observations at the dissecting Theatres in the University at Cambridge whereby he has had an opportunity of acquiring an accurate knowledge in the structure of the human body and the surgical branch of his Professions. John Warren Prof. of Anat[omy] and Surgery University Cambridge. Boston June 8th 1785.” Engraved initials in lower right “PR [Paul Revere].” On verso: Purchase information, 1951.