Book Review: Albinus on Anatomy

Albinus on Anatomy

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697 - 1770) was a German-born Dutch anatomist which probably explains why even in the eighteen century, his drawings were so accurate. This anatomy book is a compilation of work from two books he wrote at that time, Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani (Tables of the Human Body) and Tabulae Ossium Humanorum (Table of the Human Bones).

When I first saw work of Albinus, it was in Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters. There's a skeleton posing in front of a grazing rhinoceros. And on the cover of this book, there's a cupid over a skeleton's shoulder, trying to throw a cloth over it. How cool is that?

Apparently, the drawings were actually copperplate engravings created with the help of Jan Wandelaar. He's the guy who added the decorative background art. It's great foresight to use long lasting engravings instead of print. The reproduction in this book is brilliant because of that, being able to retain all the details not lost to any degradation. You can still see clearly the intricate cross hatches that wrap onto the surface of muscles and bones.

The content is presented with both the original anatomy illustration together with an outlined line art with labels. There are also close ups on the specific parts, which are a marvel to look at. It's comprehensive enough but nothing is mentioned on how the muscles work or body functions.

Overall a pretty useful and definitely interesting anatomy reference book.

Albinus on Anatomy - 01

Albinus on Anatomy - 02

Albinus on Anatomy - 03

Albinus on Anatomy - 04

Albinus on Anatomy - 05

Albinus on Anatomy - 06

Albinus on Anatomy - 07

Albinus on Anatomy - 08

Albinus on Anatomy - 09

Albinus on Anatomy - 10

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

If you buy from the links, I get a little commission that helps me get more books to feature.

Places to get Albinus on Anatomy:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp

Comments

Hello, I have just recently stumbled upon your site and I have to say it is, by far my favorite website. Huge pics and great reviews of exactly the kind of art books I'm interested in.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Comment Notification, please choose "All comments". "Replies to my comment" does not work.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------