Decima quarta musculorum tabula

About this piece

The fourteenth muscle plate after Andreas Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica of 1543, in a copper engraving attributed to Thomas Geminus and catalogued circa 1550. The deeply dissected figure is seen from behind. The spine runs down the centre of the composition, between the ribs and the exposed structure of the pelvis.

Below the main figure are separate studies of a skull and dissected feet. Their smaller scale asks for a different kind of looking, moving from the overall structure of the torso to individual forms that would be difficult to show within the standing figure. The contrast makes this one of the more complex compositions in the series.

Geminus brought Vesalius’s woodcut designs into copper engraving in his London anatomy of 1545. This impression is attributed to his work after Vesalius. The paper measures 34.5 × 21.7 cm and has an old repair at the lower-right corner.

Condition: Good condition. Old restoration at the lower-right corner.