The Anatomy Lab: A Common Ground for Artists and Physicians
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Depictions of Anatomy Lessons
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Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo's studies of the fetus in the womb
Become an Anatomist!
Alphonso Dunn offers an introduction to human anatomy and provides instructions on how to sketch it. In this video, you will find out more about the proportions, bones, and muscle groups that make up the human body. Let's grab a piece of paper and a graphite pencil, and sketch along with Alphonso!
Share your anatomical drawings with us
Send your depictions of the human body to healthmuses@gmail.com with your name and a brief description. We can gladly exhibit them here with your name as the artist!
What do you think?
Battle of the Naked Men (ca. 1470-1490)
This engraving by the Florentine artist Antonio Pollaiuolo (1431/32–1498) describes the human body in a state of action in varied poses and from different angles.
Did Pollaiuolo mean to illustrate a mythological episode or did merely want to demonstrate various poses and viewpoints for the benefit of other artists?
Study Anatomy with Art Prof. Clara Lieu
Part I: Intro
Prof. Lieu explains the reasoning behind why understanding the fundamentals of human anatomy are extremely useful for figurative artists. Using examples from art history, contemporary art, and her own artworks, Prof. Lieu talks about the many challenges of learning anatomy.
Part II: Major Masses
Prof. Lieu explains the "major masses" of the human figure, the largest forms: the head, rib cage, pelvis, and thighs.
The major masses are angled in relation to each other, it's a fundamental part of the way the human figure is structured and an important premise to grasp before moving onto the smaller, more specific parts of the anatomy.
Part III: The Centerline
The centerline is visible on the back of the figure and the front of the figure on the torso, and is an effective reference to search for when beginning a gesture drawing of a human figure.
Prof. Lieu explains how to spot the centerline on a broad range of figures and how the centerline relates to the major masses of the figure.
Part IV: The Front Torso
Prof. Lieu reviews the major masses, centerline and explains why the bony landmarks are important references on the human figure. Bones explained in this video include the clavicles, acromium process, anterior superior iliac spine, and the symphisis pubus.
Part V: The Back Torso
Prof. Lieu explains the bony landmarks on the back torso of the human figure.Bones explained in this video include the scapulae, acromium process, manubrium, seventh cervical vertebrae, the ilium, the iliac crest, poster superior iliac spine, the sacrum, and the sacral triangle.
Jacopo Berengario da Carpi
How does it feel?
Learning anatomy through dissection is an essential part of medical education.
How does it feel for young students of medicine to meet the cadavers, their silent teachers and first patients, for the first time?