ABSTRACT
One of the most crucial aspects of the ‘Vesalian Revolution’ of the mid-1500s was the deliberate use of visual aid for the study and correction of anatomical knowledge. With the 1543 publication of De humani corporis fabrica, printed anatomical images moved from inferior supplements to aids within the written text, and to a higher status as integrated tools in the presentation and clarification of anatomical data. The meticulous research, execution and printing of these images have maintained their appeal ever since. They represent a successful attempt to support textual evidence with a new iconography which enabled the communication of previously unknown or misrepresented details of the human structure. After Fabrica, many later publications on anatomy supported their written content with visual clarifications. For the reader, this analogous appreciation of text and image represented a giant leap forward in the study of human anatomy and a significant advance in the history of scientific and medical illustration. Many of the images represented in Fabrica in 1543 became the direct templates for illustrated works by future Spanish anatomists, as seen in Bernardino Montaña’s Libro de la anothomia del hombre (1551) and Juan Valverde’s Historia de la composición del cuerpo humano (1556).
