AGE OF DISCOVERY 1400-

1600
01
anatomy
botany
15th – 16th c.
Andreas VESALIUS

O. BRUNFELS & H. BOCK & L. FUCHS

Klaus Rötzer & Kushal Kamble

 1. - ANATOMY or the Study of the Human
Body
Renaissance architect and
theorist, Leon Battista
Alberti (1404-1472)urged
that when painters intend
to depict a nude, they
should first arrange the
muscles and bones, then
depict the overlying skin.
Some of the first well known
studies of this kind were
performed by Leonardo da
Vinci (1452-1519).
 The Italian artists of the Renaissance, painter and
sculptors, worked out a exact knowledge of the human
body to give to their creations the appearance of life.

St Sebastian by Mantegna
(1480) Moses by Michelangelo (1513-15)
 However the study of ANATOMY was even more important for
physicians, especially surgeons, to heal sick or wounded people.
Anatomy is the base of medical sciences.
Artists and physicians worked together to get a better knowledge
of the human body.
Foetus in the Womb by VINCI Human Brain by VESALIUS
The Flemish anatomist Andreas VESALIUS, 1514-1564, is
considered as the founder of modern anatomy.

Dissection of a human body by

Portrait of Andreas Vesalius Vesalius to teach medical students
Three Illustrations of VESALIUS’ Book, by van Calcar,
Published 1543
VESALIUS wrote the first comprehensive textbook on
anatomy “De Humani Corporis Fabrica”
• This book is based on observations made by himself
during dissections of dead human bodies.
• It is illustrated by woodcuts based on drawings made by
van Calcar, a Netherlandish-born Italian painter.
• He presented his book in 1543 to Emperor Charles V
who had the highest regard for him.
• Vesalius was from a physician family: his grandfather
was Royal Physician of Emperor Maximilian. His father
was attached to Emperor Charles V.
• He studied in Belgium, Italy, and France. He was active
in Italy, Spain, Belgium. He was a perfect synthesis of
Flemish and Italian scientific and artistic achievements.
 NOTE
History of Medical Sciences:
Hippocrates of Kos and Galen of Pergamum

• The two main figures concerning the medical sciences

during Antiquity were Hippocrates and Galen, both Greek.
Untill nowadays every physician has to take the Hippocratic
Oath before practicing.
• Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) is considered as the father of
Western medicine. He researched into the causation of
diseases and dismissed religious and magic explanations.
• Galen (129-216 CE) was considered as the medical Pope of
the Middle Ages. He regarded anatomy as the foundation of
medical knowledge and promoted dissections to improve
surgical skills and for research purposes.
 2. - BOTANY or the Study of the PLANTS

The very meticulous and detailed

drawings and paintings of the
Flemish and German Renaissance
artists and their interest in all the
creations of nature predisposed
them to share their observations
with the botanists and help them to
illustrate their books.
The famous German painter Albrecht
Dürer was one of them (right one
of his drawings.)
Before 1400 CE, in the Christian and Islamic cultures the
study of plants was based on a Greek heritage.

• The Greek scholar Theophrastus (371-287 BCE) was

considered as the main authority in botany. He was a
student of Aristotle, a contemporary of Alexander the
Great.
• Dioscorides (40-90 CE) was also a Greek physician whose
book on plants was used till the 16th century for medical
purpose only.
• The physicians of the Renaissance had a good knowledge
of the Greek tradition, but they trusted more their own
experience.
• The botanists of the Renaissance were interested in all
plants, not only in those with healing properties.
DIOSCORIDES was a Greek physician and pharmacologist
whose book was used till the 16th c. He lived in the 1rst c.
CE. A copy of his book dated 512 is still preserved.
However his study concerning plants was made to use them as
medicine. He was not a botanist, but a pharmacologist.
 Otto BRUNFELS, 1488-1534
Carl von Linné called him the “Father of Botany”. He was
Protestant and German. He did not rely on the ancient
authors, but on his own observations.
His book is illustrated with woodcuts by a German artist.
 Hieronymus BOCK, 1498-1554
He was a German Lutheran physician and botanist. His
herbal book was illustrated by the painter David Kandel.
 Leonhart FUCHS, 1501-1566
German physician and botanist, his “New Herbal” was
published in 1543 in Basel with very accurate illustrations.
BOTANY & PAINTING

A painting like this one was not

only a piece of decoration put
on the wall of a living room to
impress the guests, but also a
botanic encyclopaedia:
every flower is from a different
species, most of them do not
blossom at the same time.

The painter, in this case Jan

Bruegel, was in some way
interested in botany. His job
was to study Nature and to fix
his observations on a panel.
At the end of the 16th century, the publication of many herbals
(books on botany) increased the interest of the educated
people for plants and flowers.
A tradition of flower painting as genre developed then in
Flanders and Holland.