The history of anatomy extends from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the sophisticated analyses of the body performed by modern anatomists and scientists. Written descriptions of human organs and parts can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where attention to the body was necessitated by their highly elaborate burial practices.
Dissection of a cadaver, 15th-century painting
Galen examining a human skeleton.
Anatomical study of the arm, by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510
A portrait of Andreas Vesalius from De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543)
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem is a set of books on human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and published in 1543. It was a major advance in the history of anatomy over the long-dominant work of Galen, and presented itself as such.
Title page. Andreae Vesalii Bruxellensis, scholae medicorum Patauinae professoris, de Humani corporis fabrica Libri septem (Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, professor at the school of medicine at Padua, on the fabric of the Human body in seven Books).
The Fabrica is known for its highly detailed illustrations of human dissections, often in allegorical poses.
Image from Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543), page 163.
Image from De humani corporis fabrica (1543), page 372.
