Zergliederung deß menschlichen Körpers auf Mahlerey und Bildhauer-Kunst gerichtet. Die Figuren von Titian gezeichnet.

The brilliant anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564) was appointed Professor of Surgery and Anatomy in Padua at the age of 23 in 1537, one day after being awarded his doctorate. The work De humani corporis fabrica libri septem (Seven books about the structure of the human body), first published in 1543, created modern anatomy and was reprinted in whole or in part in various languages up until the late 18th century. Even today, “the Vesalius” is regarded by artists as the model for the study of human anatomy, since the illustrations are not only a precise reproduction of nature but are also of high artistic value.
It is hardly surprising that a resourceful publisher published the “Breakdown of the human body for artists” on the basis of the “Versalius”, using seven large and five smaller original printing blocks that Versalius had brought to Basel from Italy over 150 years previously. The prints from the old blocks do not communicate the original freshness but are unmistakably an improvement over the re-engravings also contained in this artists’ anatomy.