Anatomia Universa
Explore your own self: Paolo Mascagni’s fabulously detailed, hand-coloured engraving Viscera from his Anatomia Universa, a comprehensive work of anatomy with forty-four hand coloured plates. The book was published in Pisa between 1823 and 1831, after Mascagni’s death in 1815. Mascagni was the Prosector of Anatomy at the University of Siena, responsible for leading dissection for demonstration and research. He died in 1815 of Malaria which was common in Italy at the time.
L0019305 Anatomical Illustration
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
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Illustration of human viscera. By Paulo Mascagni.
‘exploded thorax’
Paolo Mascagni was Prosector of Anatomy at the University of Siena, which meant he was responsible for leading dissection for demonstration and research.His ‘Anatomia Universa’ was a comprehensive work of anatomy with forty-four hand coloured plates.
The main figure here is surrounded by smaller studies. At the top of the plate, the hearts have had the ‘epicardium’, the outer layer of heart tissue, removed to reveal the cardiac muscle. The heart at the bottom left is viewed from above to reveal the aortic valve. The smaller figures are foetal dissections revealing the umbilical artery and vein.
Coloured engraving
1775 – 1813 By: Paolo MascagniAnatomia universa XLIV tabulis aeneis juxta archetypum hominis adulti … repraesentata /
Paolo Mascagni
Published: 1823[-1831]Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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