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Source Description
By the 1600s, artists who specialized in figural compositions were increasingly aware of the need to understand the structure of muscles in order to portray movement effectively. Some artists, most famously Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), carried out dissections. This "flayed" figure, with muscles exposed, could have served as a study object for artists. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) made use of a similar statuette. The representation of a dead body as if alive plays on the paradox of artists' ability to imbue with life what is inanimate.The level of detail would have been insufficient for a medical student, for whom publications on anatomy by the Flemish physician Vesalius (photo) were more useful.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
14070
label
Anatomical Figure of a Man
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
14070
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Anatomical Figure of a Man
description
By the 1600s, artists who specialized in figural compositions were increasingly aware of the need to understand the structure of muscles in order to portray movement effectively. Some artists, most famously Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), carried out dissections. This "flayed" figure, with muscles exposed, could have served as a study object for artists. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) made use of a similar statuette. The representation of a dead body as if alive plays on the paradox of artists' ability to imbue with life what is inanimate.The level of detail would have been insufficient for a medical student, for whom publications on anatomy by the Flemish physician Vesalius (photo) were more useful.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1590-1660 (Baroque)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Metal
statuettes (statues)
figurines
bronzes
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
33.7
height
6
depth
21.5
dimensionsRaw
H: 13 1/4 × L: 2 3/8 × D: 8 7/16 in. (33.7 × 6 × 21.5 cm)
Source extras
med
bronze
creator_ids
6505
33562
collection_ids
BAR
exhibition_ids
3107
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
91fca39f97571fca