Jacquart, Danielle (Author)
Micrologus: Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies
Volume: 25
Pages: 355-372
This paper explores how some medieval authors, from the thirteenth century onwards, dealt with the organization of the parts of the human body and the harmonious whole they formed. During the Renaissance, it is well known that anatomical knowledge, pictural or sculptural techniques and the tradition of physiognomy happened to join together in an innovative manner. Nevertheless, some trends prepared this convergence during the last centuries of the Middle Ages. Whereas words as "fabrica" or "elegans" were applied to the human body and its parts well before Andreas Vesalius, the junction between anatomy and physiognomy was made extensively by Albert the Great in his "De animalibus." The concept of "compositio" was at the heart of the description of the harmonious whole formed by the different parts. If Albert the Great related closely this fabricating process to the powers of the soul, Pietro d’Abano in his "Conciliator" considered "compositio," also named "coequalitas," as the work of the complexion. The new translation, from the Greek, of Galen’s "De usu partium," available from 1317, gave a new status to the anatomical science. Its influence is particularly visible in Jacques Despars’ commentary on Avicenna’s Canon, written in the first half of the fifteenth century: the anatomical science is not only praised for the information it provides to physicians, but for its demonstration of the beauty of the human body and the organization of its parts. Contemporary to Jacques Despars – and to Leon Battista Alberti – Michele Savonarola, in his "Speculum phisionomiae," alluded to "simmetria corporis" and to the measures of body parts used by painters, a topic that was more succinctly dealt with by Pietro d’Abano before him.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Patrizia Fughelli;
(2017)
Bolognese Medicine during the Time of Dante
(/isis/citation/CBB288466144/)
Book
Roberta Ballestriero;
Owen Burke;
Francesco Galassi;
(2019)
Ceroplastics: The Art of Wax
(/isis/citation/CBB828682939/)
Chapter
Roberta Ballestriero;
(2019)
From Flesh to Wax. A Journey throughout History, Science, Religion and Literature
(/isis/citation/CBB071313889/)
Article
Clayton, Martin;
(2012)
Medicine: Leonardo's Anatomy Years
(/isis/citation/CBB001320448/)
Book
Rosa Piro;
(2019)
Glossario Leonardiano: Nomenclatura dell'anatomia nei disegni della Collezione Reale di Windsor
(/isis/citation/CBB871556073/)
Chapter
Chiara Crisciani;
(2019)
Sensi e Ingenium in alchimia e chirurgia
(/isis/citation/CBB971142790/)
Article
Agostino Paravicini Bagliani;
(2018)
The Prolongation of Life and its Limits. Western Europe, XIIIth-XVIth c.
(/isis/citation/CBB843072414/)
Book
Chiara Beneduce;
Denise Vincenti;
(2018)
Oeconomia Corporis: The Body’s Normal and Pathological Constitution at the Intersection of Philosophy and Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB424485770/)
Chapter
Laura Speranza;
(2019)
Cellini, Giambologna, Zumbo and their Works in Ceroplastics. The long Experience of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence between Methodology and Experimentation
(/isis/citation/CBB416418789/)
Chapter
Pietro Conte;
(2019)
Waxworks Unframed
(/isis/citation/CBB435178441/)
Chapter
Marco Betti;
(2019)
No Mere Teaching Tools: Wax Sculpture in Tuscany from the Medici through the Early Lorraine Dynasties
(/isis/citation/CBB060173977/)
Chapter
Eleanor Crook;
(2019)
The Immortality of Wax. The magic of a volatile medium
(/isis/citation/CBB433911227/)
Chapter
Konrad Schlegel;
(2019)
Julius von Schlosser and the Collection of Wax Artefacts in the Kunstkammer of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
(/isis/citation/CBB234698061/)
Chapter
Mahmoud Aroua;
(2012)
De quelques éléments anatomo-physiologiques du cerveau et des nerfs chez Ibn al-Nafīs (1210-1288)
(/isis/citation/CBB809523110/)
Article
Chiara Mascardi;
(2022)
I Teatri anatomici di Bologna Parte II. Dal Medioevo al 1637
(/isis/citation/CBB816480376/)
Chapter
Elisabeth Moreau;
(2018)
Elements, Mixture and Temperament. The Body’s Composition in Renaissance Physiology
(/isis/citation/CBB054314061/)
Chapter
Cynthia Klestinec;
(2021)
The Anatomy Theater: Towards a Performative History
(/isis/citation/CBB804030084/)
Chapter
Lisa Devriese;
(2018)
The Influence of Bodily Changes on the Soul in Medieval Physiognomy
(/isis/citation/CBB657113145/)
Book
Knoppers, Laura Lunger;
Landes, Joan B.;
(2004)
Monstrous Bodies/Political Monstrosities in Early Modern Europe
(/isis/citation/CBB000471272/)
Article
Chiara Crisciani;
(2018)
Death as a Destiny and the Hope of Long Life in the Latin Middle Ages
(/isis/citation/CBB657013511/)
Be the first to comment!