Anatomy, muscles of the human body, with rhino Clara (plates IV + VIII) – Jan Wandelaar after Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, 1747

ANATOMY AS ART: THE MUSCLES OF THE HUMAN BODY ACCORDING TO ALBINUS; WITH CLARA THE RHINOCEROS

“Musculorum Tabula IV” and “Musculorum Tabula VIII”. Copper engravings made between 1739 and 1743 by Jan Wandelaar for the celebrated work “Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani” by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, published in Leiden in 1747 by Johan and Herman Verbeek. Size (each): 62 x 47.5 cm.

Concerning Tabula IV, Albinus states: “In this figure, in order to show the fourth layer of the muscles, not only have most of the external parts of the immediately preceding figure been removed, but also everything contained in the eye sockets except the muscles; from the neck, the entire pharynx and oesophagus, together with the larynx and trachea; and from the opened thoracic cavity everything situated above the diaphragm, namely the lungs, the heart, the pericardium and the pleurae. In addition, the entire peritoneum has also been removed, together with the viscera of the abdominal cavity which it encloses, as well as everything lying on this side in the lumbar region, except the muscles.”

And concerning Tabula VIII: “The fourth layer of the muscles is shown here from this side, together with a more fully denuded skeleton, most of the superficial parts of the immediately preceding figure having been removed. This figure shows the posterior aspect of the figure in the fourth plate, though not in its entirety. For neither the internal pterygoid muscle, nor the external sphincter of the anus, nor the transverse muscles of the perineum, nor the interosseous muscles and the tendons running to the fingers in the right hand are shown here, just as they were not shown in that earlier figure. The interosseous muscles with the tendons in the left hand, however, are depicted for the sake of sequence, since they had been omitted from the fourth plate, having already been represented in the third.”

“Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani” was arguably the most important illustrated anatomical work of the eighteenth century. Anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697–1770), who was a professor at Leiden University, and engraver Jan Wandelaar (1690–1759) collaborated closely to create engravings that were both scientifically accurate and visually exceptional.

To improve the scientific accuracy of anatomical illustrations, Albinus and Wandelaar developed a new technique in which a kind of grid was placed at a fixed distance from the anatomical subject, through which the draughtsman studied the object. The grid then served as a guide for the final drawing, which was built up square by square.

Albinus believed in the concept of the “homo perfectus“, an idealised perfect human model of which all people were derivatives and variants. To depict this perfect human, the illustrations were composed from multiple human models. Earlier anatomical representations, such as those in the work of Andreas Vesalius, were typically based on individual bodies; Albinus, by contrast, strove for a composite, idealised human model.

The anatomical figures were placed in a lush Baroque setting, creating a sense of depth and making the representations particularly beautiful and vivid. Wandelaar made the first plates in 1742, among them skeletons depicted alongside a rhinoceros — the famous Indian rhinoceros Clara, who was residing in Leiden at the time and was enormously popular.

Albinus believed so strongly in his work that he reportedly spent 24,000 florins — approximately €1.9 million in today’s money — to have it produced. His investment yielded plates without equal, widely regarded as among the finest engravings ever made. Before Jan Wandelaar met Bernhard Albinus, he was already a skilled artist in the field of natural history. He studied under Dutch printmaker Jacob Folkema, Dutch engraver and cartographer Willem van der Gouwen, painter Gerard de Lairesse, and botanist and anatomist Frederik Ruysch. From 1746 until his death, Wandelaar lived in Albinus’s house.

Price: Euro 4.950,- (2 engravings)