The Ingenious Machine of Nature: Four Centuries of Art and Anatomy

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This National Gallery catalogue for an interdisciplinary exhibition
exploring the relationships between art and science focuses on the
visual representation of the human anatomy by artists and anatomists. As
described by the Gallery’s director, Shirley Thomson, “[t]he
illustrations they devised together mark the longest unbroken
collaboration between scientists and artists in Western culture as we
know it today, and owe a great debt to the trained eye and sensitive
hand of the artist–anatomist team.”

Anatomical illustration has become a subject of recent interest in many
disciplines. Cultural historians seek clues to the societies that
produced it. Feminist historians note how such art tends to reinforce
gender-based stereotypes. Arts historians and philosophers explore its
representation of human life, including the spiritual dimension.

The book features black-and-white illustrations, along with a few
striking color plates. The text consists of three major essays: “The
Theatre of the Body” (Mimi Cazort), “The Study of the Human Machine:
Books of Anatomy for Artists” (Monique Kornell), and “The Contexts
of Anatomical Illustrations” (K.B. Roberts). Rounding out the book are
a Catalogue of Works compiled by all three writers, an 18-page
bibliography, and an index. Among the many famous artists whose work is
featured in this unusual art book are Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach,
William Hogarth, Michelangelo, and Titian.