Topics for 2013

Happy New Year!  As we begin the new year I have been brainstorming about blogging topics for 2013.  I was in New York for a few days and I plan on blogging about some amazing exhibitions I saw and plan on visiting.  Among them are the “Bernini, Sculpting in Clay” and “Matisse: True Painting” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Bernini's terracotta sculpture model for the "Lion on Four Rivers Fountain" 1649-50. From the  exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The “Beatrix Potter, The Picture Letters” and “Durer to de Kooning” exhibitions at the Morgan Library are worth discussion and exploration.  The Frick’s “Mantegna to Matisse, Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery” and MoMA’s “Inventing Abstraction” look fascinating.  The National Gallery of Art’s upcoming French drawing exhibition “Color, Line, Light: French Drawings, Watercolors, and Pastels from Delacroix to Signac” is much anticipated for it’s varied collection.

Pastel drawing by Auguste Louis Lepere, 1900.  From exhibition "Color, Line, Light: French Drawings from Delacroix to Signac" at the National Gallery of Art.

 I plan on continuing to blog about master drawing techniques , such as pen and ink and wash and red chalk.  As I prepare my 2014 Vesalius Trust“Art and Anatomy” tour to Greece and Italy I will continue to blog about Andreas Vesalius whose 500^th anniversary is next year! To reflect the focus of my blog I have added "Art and Anatomy" to my title.

Pen and ink drawing by Jacques Bellange, 1610. From the "Durer to de Kooning" exhibition at the Morgan Library.

Thanks for reading, commenting and joining me on my art and anatomy travels! 

Andreas Vesalius, Father of Modern Anatomy

I plan on doing a few postings about anatomical visionary Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) who is considered to be the father of modern anatomy.  Vesalius hailed from Flanders, and was born in Brussels, to a learned family of physicians.  He studied medicine at the University of Louvain and the University of Paris before getting his doctorate at the University of Padua.

                     Wood engraving portrait of Andreas Vesalius from Da Fabrica (1543)

Vesalius transformed the way anatomy was taught in the 16ht century through his teaching style and his masterpiece De humani corporis fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body) published in 1543. Da Fabrica was the first anatomical treatise to be based on human dissection, and include accurate anatomical drawings.  After its publication the study of anatomy would be transformed!

                          Anatomical drawing from Da Fabrica (1543) by Jan van Calcar

While a medical student Vesalius noticed discrepancies between what he was seeing in human dissections and what the professor was describing.  At this time the study of anatomy was based on the writings of Galen. Galen, an ancient Greek physician and anatomist, believed the anatomy of humans and animals was interchangeable, hence the discrepancies Vesalius encountered.  Anatomy professors at this time were removed from the act of dissection and often sat on a throne, beautifully dressed, reading from the writings of Galen.

       Venetian wood cut from 15th century showing anatomy teaching and dissection.

When Vesalius started teaching anatomy at the University of Padua he decided to do the dissections himself and set the anatomical record straight.  He found that doing large schematic drawings aided his students in understanding what they were seeing.  This was the inspiration for Da Fabrica.

Da Fabrica frontispiece showing Vesalius dissecting and teaching.

My next posting will describe the process of creating the magnum opus Da Fabrica.