Artists With Anatomical Knowledge After Anathomia (1316) and Before Fabrica (1543)

Abstract

In the Renaissance, anatomical science was a major source of inspiration for artists. By the 15th century, interest had emerged in anatomy, and the artists of the period dissected cadavers. The aim of this paper was to analyze the works of 15th century artists who had a good knowledge of human anatomy.In PubMed and Google, "Renaissance" and "artist" and ("anatomy" or "cadaver" or "corpse") were searched. In the book Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Vasari, the terms "cadaver" or "dissect" or "corps" or "anatomy" were searched. Fourteen artists (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, Piero della Francesca Andrea del Castagno, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Baccio Bandinelli, Giovanni Antonio Lappoli, Rosso Fiorentino, Silvio Cosini of Fiesole, Jan van Calcar, and Taddeo Zucchero) who learned anatomy or performed dissections were identified, and artworks representing their knowledge of human anatomical structures were analyzed.In this review, we identified artists who had a good knowledge of anatomy and applied anatomical knowledge of features such as muscle shape and volume in their works.The artists sought to accurately portray facial expressions, positions, reflexive motions, and draped clothing. Observation of living subjects is the primary source of artists' expertise. Dissection provides fixed model without flowing blood, which cannot be used as an animated model. It is thought that these artists learned about the origins of vivid expressions from the anatomy of the muscles lying beneath the skin.