The Parisian surgeon and anatomist A. Velpeau (1795-1867) performing an anatomical dissection. Etching, after F.N.A. Feyen-Perrin, 1864.

Surrounded by observers and assistants, the Parisian surgeon and anatomist A. Velpeau (1795-1867) stands at the centre of the composition, before a bearded cadaver, with a white apron buttoned to his coat. Velpeau was director of Surgery at the Parisian hospital, the Charité, for thirty-three years and this is the setting for the scene. The print reproduces in reverse an oil painting by François-Nicolas-Augustin Feyen-Perrin which was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1864. It was bought by the French state and given in 1896 to the Musée de la Ville of Tours, the city where Velpeau studied under Pierre Bretonneau (1778-1862). A number of portraits have been identified among those present at the dissection. These include Henry Liouville, Pierre Desfossés and Feyen-Perrin's pupil, Armand Charnay