Observational anatomical drawing of a human showing the removal of skin and muscles to show the human skeleton. Vesalius’ ‘Fabric of the Human Body’ was a turning point in medicine for the detailed drawings and descriptions it offered of human anatomy.

Left image: Observational anatomical drawing of a human. Due to it’s detailed accurate labelled drawings and accompanying text Vesalius’ ‘Fabric of the Human Body’ was a turning point in the history of medicine. Right image: Observational anatomical drawing of a human showing the skin removed and muscles below. Vesalius labelled all the detailed drawings and …

The title page of the 2nd edition of Vesalius’ ‘Fabric of the Human Body’, 1555. The image shows Vesalius performing a dissection with people watching.