An écorché figure seen from the back, holding a skull in his lowered right hand. His left arm is raised with his hand held in a gesture of eloquence. Engraving by G. Bonasone, 155-.

  • Bonasone, Giulio, approximately 1498-approximately 1580.
Date:
[between 1550 and 1559]
Reference:
26249i
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About this work

Description

The skull held by the figure is partially obscured and is not for anatomical display, as are those held by an muscle figure in Vesalius's Epitome (Basel 1543) or by a skeleton in Berengario da Carpi's Isogogae breves (Bologna 1522) Here it is used as a symbol of death. In the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence there is a bronze model, dated to the late sixteenth century, that shows the influence of this print (Amerson 1975, no. 14, pp. 222-223)

Publication/Creation

[Bologna], [between 1550 and 1559]

Physical description

1 print : engraving ; 14.9 x 10.7 cm

Lettering

IVB At lower left corner bears the effaced number: 8

Notes

Eighth in a series of fourteen anatomical prints by G. Bonasone

References note

Adam Bartsch, Le peintre-graveur, Leipzig 1854-1870, repr. Würzburg 1920--1922, vol. XV, p. 94, no. 336 (8)
S. Massari, Giulio Bonazone, exh. cat., Rome: Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica - Calcografia, 1978, i, pp. 109-111, no. 183
L. Choulant, History and bibliography of anatomic illustration, tr. and ed. by M. Frank, Chicago 1920, revd ed. 1945, pp. 166-167
L. P. Amerson, Jr., The problem of the écorché: a catalogue raisonné of models and statuettes from the sixteenth century and later periods, PhD. thesis, Pennsylvania State University 1975, Ann Arbor: U.M.I., 1976, fig. 155

Reference

Wellcome Collection 26249i

Type/Technique

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