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| Anonymous British Artist William Cheselden giving an Anatomical Demonstration ca. 1733-35 oil on canvas Wellcome Collection, London |
"This work was painted by an artist of the British School in the early 1730s. The figure in the center is reputed to be William Cheselden (1688-1752). A pupil of William Cowper, the famous anatomist, and a member of the club of the Virtuosi of St Luke, Cheselden subscribed to the first St. Martin's Lane Academy in 1720. By then he had made a name with his Anatomy of the Humane Body of 1713. In the spring of 1721 Cheselden gave a course of lectures on human and comparative anatomy in Crane Court, Fleet Street. This was chiefly designed for a non-medical audience. It is probable that artists of the first St Martin's Lane Academy attended his lectures and that they, and other artists, attended anatomical demonstrations given by Cheselden and other anatomists in London. The style of the painting is close to that of informal portraits of the early 1730s produced by artist-members of the Rose and Crown Club, an art club which stimulated the rise and development of the conversation piece in England. The date of execution might coincide with the publication of Cheselden's Osteographia in 1733. The anatomy theatre shown is not sufficiently distinct to identify it with a specific theatre. It is perhaps the theatre of the Barber-Surgeons' Company designed by Inigo Jones, built in 1636 near the present site of the Barbican and demolished in 1784. The sitters, too, are not described sufficiently so as to identify them with specific persons. The same applies to the écorché stretched out on the table, but the book opened at a page illustrated with a human skeleton is more telling. The artful pose is similar to that of the skeleton illustrated at plate XXXII [directly below] of Cheselden's Osteographia of 1733."
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| William Cheselden Osteographia plate XXXII 1733 engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XII 1726 edition engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XIII 1726 edition engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XII 1773 edition engraving British Library |
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| William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XIII 1778 edition engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
Some editions of Cheselden's Anatomy include écorché figures, as below, assuming poses derived from standardized religious and mythological imagery.
 William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XIX (St Sebastian) 1778 edition engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| William Cheselden Anatomy of the Humane Body plate XX (Hercules and Antaeus) 1778 edition engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| John Tinney after Andreas Vesalius Compendious Treatise of Anatomy plate IV 1743 engraving Wellcome Collection, London |
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| John Singleton Copley after John Tinney after Andreas Vesalius Écorché Figure 1756 drawing British Museum |
John Tinney's Compenious Treatise of Anatomy was first published in 1743 and appeared in six subsequent editions until 1842. In his preface to the first edition Tinney stressed that his book was adapted particularly to the needs of artists. He further stated: 'The best Method a young painter can follow in his Study of Anatomy is, to learn the Shape, Proportion, Situation and Manner of joining the Bones to one another; their Names; the Shapes and Situation of the Muscles . . . then to compare it with some good anatomical Figure of Plaister of Paris (of which Sort there is an excellent one done by Mr. Roubilliac) and to draw from it on every side: and lastly to compare it with the Life, by setting a very muscular Man in such Attitudes as will best show the Muscles you are in any doubt about."
"Tinney derived the plates in his book from William Cowper's Myotomia Reformata, or, a New Administration of all the Humane Muscles of Humane Bodies of 1694 and from Vesalius. In the 19th century Tinney's book was still among the standard works on anatomy used by artists – much to the dismay of Benjamin Robert Haydon, who wrote on 17 November 1817: 'Why have not historical painters hitherto succeeded? They just go to the Academy, study Tinney's Anatomy, just know that there is a muscle called biceps in the arm, rectus in the thigh, pectoralis in the breast; begin an historical picture, expose if for sale, which no body is weak enough to purchase."
"The growth of artistic interest in anatomy was paralleled, and indeed heavily influenced, by the interest of a number of anatomists in the visual arts, notably the Scots surgeons John and Charles Bell. The Bells were gifted draughtsmen as well as highly skilled surgeons, and included their own illustrations for their books on anatomy, [such as the two plates directly above] from John Bell's Engravings explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles and Joints of 1794. Benjamin Robert Haydon bought a copy of this book in 1804, which he admired for its 'admirable perspicuity' and, more surprisingly, its 'beauty.' The significance of the Bells' books, and of Charles Bell's lectures to art students in the early years of the nineteenth century, was that they showed artists that direct observation, dissection and drawings made from the human figure were of greater use, if less tasteful, than the idealised, stylized, and rather sanitized depictions of human anatomy which were slavishly copied from Albinus and Vesalius."
"William Hunter's interest in anatomy as it related to the Fine Arts was first made manifest through his lectures at the St Martin's Lane Academy. And it was no doubt owing to his continued active interest in the affairs of the Incorporated Society of Artists that Hunter was appointed first Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. In this portrait Hunter holds in his hand a small bronze écorché, [a version of which is reproduced directly below]. There are in European art a number of precedents for this type of image, where a prominent anatomist is depicted either holding or in the presence of an écorché figure."
"The écorché model originated in the 16th century and was adopted by artists and anatomists who shared an interest in the structure of the human body. The portability, relative ease of access, and incorruptible nature of the écorché model enabled it to serve as an alternative to the study of myology from a cadaver."
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| John Bell Engravings explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles and Joints plate VIII 1794 engraving University of Toronto Libraries |
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| John Bell Engravings explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles and Joints plate IX 1794 engraving University of Toronto Libraries |
"The growth of artistic interest in anatomy was paralleled, and indeed heavily influenced, by the interest of a number of anatomists in the visual arts, notably the Scots surgeons John and Charles Bell. The Bells were gifted draughtsmen as well as highly skilled surgeons, and included their own illustrations for their books on anatomy, [such as the two plates directly above] from John Bell's Engravings explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles and Joints of 1794. Benjamin Robert Haydon bought a copy of this book in 1804, which he admired for its 'admirable perspicuity' and, more surprisingly, its 'beauty.' The significance of the Bells' books, and of Charles Bell's lectures to art students in the early years of the nineteenth century, was that they showed artists that direct observation, dissection and drawings made from the human figure were of greater use, if less tasteful, than the idealised, stylized, and rather sanitized depictions of human anatomy which were slavishly copied from Albinus and Vesalius."
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| Mason Chamberlin Portrait of anatomist William Hunter holding an écorché figurine 1769 oil on canvas Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"William Hunter's interest in anatomy as it related to the Fine Arts was first made manifest through his lectures at the St Martin's Lane Academy. And it was no doubt owing to his continued active interest in the affairs of the Incorporated Society of Artists that Hunter was appointed first Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. In this portrait Hunter holds in his hand a small bronze écorché, [a version of which is reproduced directly below]. There are in European art a number of precedents for this type of image, where a prominent anatomist is depicted either holding or in the presence of an écorché figure."
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| Michael Henry Spang Écorché Figure ca. 1761-67 bronze statuette (cast by Edward Burch after Spang's wax model) Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Ludovico Cigoli Écorché Figure ca. 1580 bronze statuette Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
"The écorché model originated in the 16th century and was adopted by artists and anatomists who shared an interest in the structure of the human body. The portability, relative ease of access, and incorruptible nature of the écorché model enabled it to serve as an alternative to the study of myology from a cadaver."
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| Johan Zoffany Anatomy Lecture by William Hunter at the Royal Academy of Arts 1772 oil on canvas Royal College of Physicians, London |
"The painting shows Dr. William Hunter in his capacity as Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy. Apart from Sir Joshua Reynolds, who is seated in the centre holding his ear trumpet, no member of the audience has been identified. To illustrate the subject of his lecture, Hunter makes use of the living model, an écorché figure, and a skeleton."
– quoted passages from The Artist's Model: its Role in British Art from Lely to Etty by Ilaria Bignamini and Martin Postle (exhibition catalogue, Nottingham University Art Gallery, 1991)