A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his right forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving 1778, after an engraving by Prevost, 1762, after a woodcut, 1543.

[London] : [E. Middleton, et al], [1778]

1 print : engraving ; platemark 31.1 x 19.4 cm

Facing skeleton. The new complete dictionary of arts & sciences, by the Revd. Mr. Middleton &c. Bears plate no. : LXXIII

J.B. de C.M. Saunders and C.D. O'Malley, The illustrations from the works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, Cleveland and New York 1950, p. 84, pl. 21

Wellcome Collection 36361i

Reverses the first anatomy plate to D. Diderot and J. le R. d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des metiers, Paris 1762, vol. 18, pl. 1, which in turn copied in reverse the original woodcut published as the first skeleton plate to Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, published in Basel in 1543. In the Diderot and d'Alembert plate, the position of the skull was altered so that it no longer tilted back but looks down slightly to its right. The background visible in the Vesalian plate and in the Diderot and d'Alembert plate has been replaced by a simple gound line