Anatomical Icon: Dissection Scenes in Manuscript and Print, circa 1350–1550

Abstract

By the time Andreas Vesalius (1514–64) created his energetic depiction of a woman’s dissection to grace the front of his anatomical masterwork On the Fabric of the Human Body (1543), the iconography of the dissection scene—a corpse laid on a table surrounded by a crowd of gesticulating men, one wielding a knife, overseen by a lecturer reading from a text—had become firmly emblematic of the field of anatomy. The image appealed at once to educated, professional medical practitioners as well as to members of the general public, increasingly hungry for accessible medical texts, signifying human dissection’s arrival as a central component in the study of medicine. While this may seem natural to modern viewers, human dissection was not performed at all until the late Middle Ages and it took two centuries to become an acceptable part of medical curricula. By delving into the origins of the iconography of the dissection scene in manuscript and print, this essay will tell the story of human dissection in medieval Europe, from the first demonstration in Bologna in the early fourteenth century, to the slow spread of the practice throughout European universities, and arriving at its eventual establishment as an integral part of the practice of medicine by Vesalius’s time. Dissection scene images, which began as a luxurious addition to manuscripts seen only by a small amount of wealthy and educated viewers, became one of the most popular images ever printed as Vesalius’s book soared to fame, reflecting the growing acceptance of the practice.