ANATOMY DURING THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE 75 



titled Miser's Heart, portrayed a public dissection, with surgeons 

 looking into the cadaver's chest. He was the teacher of Pollaiuolo 

 and was judged to have the best anatomical background of his 

 contemporaries; this was obtained by observations of his own dis- 

 sections. Michelangelo spent sixteen years in anatomical studies on 

 animals and man which almost ruined his health; it is claimed 

 that he practiced vivisection. Andrea Verrocchio (1435-1488) per- 

 formed fifty anatomies during his lifetime and made many figures 

 in wax, plaster and bronze. 



The historical evidence indicates that between 1400 and 

 1543, more anatomies were probably made by artists than by 

 anatomists, although both worked together when they could. Some 

 authors state that a rivalry existed between them. Apparently, the 

 observations made by the artists at the public demonstrations 

 were insufficient to satisfy their curiosities and needs which led 

 them to consider ways and means to proceed on their own. 



Dissections by artists were carried out either in hospitals with 

 the sanction and supervision of the superintendents therein, or 

 in dead houses attached to the churches, with the approval of the 

 Pope. The privilege to dissect was especially important to Michel- 

 angelo; he refused to sculpture figures for the Church of the 

 Holy Ghost, at Florence, unless the monastic superior would pay 

 him in cadavers taken from a neighboring cemetery. This ar- 

 rangement apparently reached the ears of the populace who re- 

 acted unfavorably; the word spread that he was willing to crucify 

 a man and let him die in order to depict Christ on the cross. 

 There is thus evidence that the practice of resurrecting human 

 bodies, which was short-lived, occurred in Italy, during the first 

 part of the 16th Century and that dissection was done surrepti- 

 tiously behind closed doors with the approval of the Church. 

 It is possible that the painters, especially those who had es- 

 tablished distinguished reputations had less difficulty in obtain- 

 ing human cadavers than did the anatomists and physicians. More 

 hostility may have been directed toward the medics because they 

 _had to associate themselves with the bodies of executed criminals 

 ^■md because medicine lagged behind progress in art; as a whole, 

 ^Bthey were not held in very high repute. Some of the artists, such 

 ^feis Leonardo da Vinci, were noted for their charm, graciousness 



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