Drawing Anatomical Image in Human Anatomy - Essay Example

? Significance of Using Artist to Draw Anatomical Image in Human Anatomy in 16th and 17th century During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was an influx in the number of artists. These artists specialized in studying human anatomy. Most of the artists were elites and scholars from Europe. Some of the known artists in the era are Leonardo Da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius (Rifkin 20). They used paintings and other artistic works to come up with an overview of the human anatomy. They studies depended on dissections and surgery that was carried out on dead people and animals. They later documented their work in the form of paintings, handbooks and other works. The art of human anatomy is dated back to the 1600 BC with the first contributor Mr. Edwin Smith. His work included the approach of the human body at different perspectives. According to his work, there is proof that the heart had vessels that helped in the transportation of blood throughout the body. He referred to them as blood vessels and they were believed to have originated from the heart. The treatise of the heart is contained in the Ebers Papyrus. He also noted that there was the presence of other vessels that helped in the transportation of other body fluids such as saliva, sweat, urine, semen and tears. Most of these organs were identified after examination of human corpses. Discoveries on human anatomy had various importances which can be viewed in the modern day society. Some of the artwork by artists foretold what would later be found out using state of the art technology. During the 16 and 17th centuries, there was no technology. However, these artists came up with paintings such as the Leornado Da Vinci’s painting on the human womb. His work foretold how the child looked like while in the wombs (Clayton & Ronald 55). It would later be confirmed using CRT scans which show the position of the child while in the womb. Artists work provided detailed information on the structure of the human body. They carried out researches on behalf of the general population to help doctors in their work. To some extent, the arties were so vigorous in their work such that they continued with their work even after bans had been enforced to reduce dissection on human corpses. For example, Leonardo was able to dissect close to 30 bodies during his research (Clayton & Ronald 45). This helped him provided a detailed report which would help him in his paintings. The paintings were used to create awareness to the members of the society. Most of the people did not know what constituted their bodies and how they functioned. As compared to the 21st century, his artwork is perfect. His sketches on the human body provided both internal and external details. He had and expansive study on bones, organs, muscles and the blood circulatory system. Vesalius on the other hand created detailed drawings on allegorical poses. After investing in research, he was able to gather data which he used to publish several books. He published the ‘De humani corporis fabrica’ which was a seven volume book containing his artwork. ‘Abridgement of the Structure of the Human Body’ was also published to provide his findings focusing on illustration rather than actual texts. According to other scholars, it is through Vesalius that they were able to learn the internal functioning of the human body. His findings were presented in a three dimensional place to help them provide detailed information to its viewers. Vesalius was the first scholar to provide a good description on the sphenoid bone. He was very detailed in his work and led to classification sternum. He also improved the works of Etienne which helped him clarify the type of veins and arteries and also the presence of valves. During the enlightenment era, most anatomist continued operating under the same ideology as Vesalius. He believed that all anatomists had the right to perform surgical operations on human corpses. His work later bore fruit after some of his followers led to the discovery of the circulation of blood in human bodies. William Harvey was the first anatomists to help in the understanding of the blood circulatory system in 1578. He combined his skill in modern anatomy with physics. Leonardo in his studies dealt with the skeleton and muscles structure of the human body. He carried out several researched and surgeries to help him understand how the human body was able to carryout mechanical activities. This later led to him to publish the ‘Mechanics of man’. It was a book that provided detailed information about how the human body acted during activities. For example, he was able to identify, muscles that were used to help in locomotion. His dissection abilities also help him come up with differences and similarities in the human body. After his studies, he deemed the brain, lungs and heart to be the motors of life senses. After this breakthrough, he documented his information in drawings. His paintings are proofs of the most significant achievements. They act as a connector between natural and abstract representation. He used different types of lines to differentiate organs in the human body. Another importance of the artistic work on human anatomy is that it made it possible for doctors to have surgeries with loosing lives. In this century, most of the people were not learned. In some cases, doctors used the paintings and handbooks to have a better understanding of the human body. In his pictures, Da Vinci adopted an architect’s way of work. His images would contain a three dimensional format where thee was the elevation, perspective and section views of the picture. Human anatomy had become a famous art in Europe and everybody had the need to become an artist. However, Pope Sixtus IV gave out an order that prevented anatomists from carrying out research on human cadavers. Due to the prohibition, anatomists did not give up and they started dissecting other mammals. This was due to the increased need for knowledge by most of the anatomists. There was also an increase in the number of elites in the ancient society which later led to an influx of anatomists. They dissected these mammals to gain knowledge on the structure of animals. They found out that there was the presence of similar organs in most of the mammals. It led to the understanding that man was anatomically similar to other mammals. In most of the cases, the anatomists used bodies of executed criminals who had been offered the proper burial based on the Christian religion. The ban on the use of human cadavers continued to the 1550s in Germany and England. During King Henry’s era, surgeons were only limited to four anatomies per annum on convicted felons. In fact, it was until 1565 that Queen Elizabeth granted the College of Physician permission to carryout dissection of human corpses. Another importance of artistic work was that the results led to developments in sociology and other social and health sciences. There was increased urge for the creation of institutions where people would study human anatomy form the artists. This helped in promoting peace since people would meet at these institutions to learn about how their body functioned. Trainees in such institutions led to the adoption of the dissection of non-human mammals and creation of the anatomical series (ZoI?llner 20). Since its start in the 16th century, anatomy has had most of its breakthrough in the 17th century. This was due to scholars and anatomists who did not give up even after bans were issued to prevent doctors from carrying out anatomy on the human body. Apart for Leonardo and Andreas Vesalius, there was an increase in the number of artists studying and teaching human autonomy. Human anatomy has been going on since the 16th century. Artists involved in the art have been of much importance to modern day health education. They have been considered to be the godfathers of human anatomy since they offered the basics that would be helped to come up with better and detailed information. This has led to the development of an understanding on the organs found in a human being. Since anatomy is the study of the human body, human anatomy development has helped in understanding of more and complex functions that are carried out by the human body. They type of machinery used to gain knowledge on the human body has also improved in history where in the present world doctors are able to get into very tiny details bout their customers. However, as compared to the past, on macroscopic anatomy was available. This is due to lack of tools to help their naked eye view more complex structures of the human body. Machines and techniques such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and the use of X- ray among other have been used to create a wider and complicated view of the human body. However, artists like Leonardo used their artwork to come up with detailed features during the 16th century (ZoI?llner 36). For example, his work on how a baby looks like while in the womb, he drew a replica of what has been found out today using modern day tools. Works Cited Clayton, Martin, and Ronald Philo. Leonardo da Vinci: the mechanics of man. London: Royal Collection Enterprises ;, 2010. Print. Rifkin, Benjamin A.. Human anatomy: a visual history from the Renaissance to the digital age. New York: Abrams, 2011. Print. ZoI?llner, Frank. LeIonard de Vinci, 1452-1519. KoI?ln: Taschen, 2006. Print. Read More

 

Read More