The Gross Clinic Painting Analysis

The illustration on the right was based on the research done by Andreas Vesalius, who dissected human corpses to better explain the human body.” The human anatomy had a major contrast from previous knowledge they had. The illustration, by Andreas Vesalius, shows each muscle, tendon, and bone in the body. This drawing gives all sorts of information about the human body. This is important because the human body was finally understood and praised.

Dissection of human bodies became popular during the Renaissance time as people started to redraw and disprove previous beliefs about human anatomy. Interest in anatomy grew for artistic and medical purposes. Artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo began

The very first things I notice in the painting are the subject’s eyes. Dix paints Dr. Heinrich’s eyes with a heavy, swamp-like impasto. The decision to make the eyes of Dr. Heinrich to look directly at the viewer combined with the heavy impasto used on the eyes fortifies the hypnotic effect that this painting holds. The use of the swampy green and grey colouration with a tinge of bloodshot pink in the eyes gives the painting a vile and uncomfortable aura. The colouration of the rest of the face is tinted with a sickening green; Dix’s decision to represent the doctor’s face in this colour

In the time before scientific research, the body was described by various ideas created by people who refused to admit ignorance and instead turned myth to reality. Ever since the beginning of scientific research in the field of biology the body has turned from less of a myth to more of a tangible entity. Displayed in Document D is a comparison of the body in complete mythological form and the scientific drawing based on dissection. At the time this idea of such common materials creating the living thing that is the human must have caused an outburst, but scientific discovery must go on. This is very similar to the world of biology today, specifically neurobiology. This a a field of research that is explaining in depth how people think and that is not an explanation most people want to hear. They too do not want to be driven by such common recognizable algorithms. This is how the Renaissance has influenced the field of biology, by showing that even without the support of the public the truth must be

The rhetorical device that is most relevant in The Pen and the Scalpel by Dr. Richard Selzer, is developing a voice. The two main ideas of the essay are married in the sixth paragraph. This short yet powerful paragraph brings the essay into a full circle, the essay is about how it is a struggle for a surgeon to also be a writer. The sixth paragraph begins with explaining how the art of writing and how surgery do not relate. As it progresses he uses great figurative language to compare, what is almost incomparable. He starts by calling them “celestial arts”. Celestial arts are divine and heavenly, their roots are traced back to the Greek gods. This insinuation shows the reader that there are few arts that relate as closely as these two do.

Dissection of human bodies became popular during the Renaissance time as people started to redraw and disprove previous beliefs about human anatomy. Interest in anatomy grew for artistic and medicinal purposes. Artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo began “integrating their knowledge of surface and deeper anatomy into their paintings” (Wear). However, the majority of anatomical knowledge at this time was based on Greek and Medieval Italian dissection of animals (Ghosh). Comparing animal bodies to the human body provided its’ inconsistencies, and anatomists like Andreas Vesalius pointed them out and disproved what was considered factual. His studies inspired scientists years to come to venture into anatomy and dissection as well.

When we visited the Mutter Museum, I was mesmerized by the amount of fascinating artifacts, collection of specimens, models, as well as the extensive variety of medical instruments. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is replete with some of the preeminent artifacts and sets of anatomical specimens in America. As a student, I was deeply intrigued by nearly everything. I was astounded by the amount of richness and diversity that makes up the history and culture of medicine. Out of all the exhibits in the Mutter Museum, I was strongly inclined and intrigued by the exhibit of the plaster cast and conjoined liver of the “Siamese twins” Chang and Eng. These two Thai conjoined twins were born in 1811. They came to the United States in 1829 to tour and perform. Chang and Eng eventually married sisters and bought adjacent farms near the lands of North Carolina during the early 1840’s. This exhibit along with countless number of expositions of the malformations of human beings ignited a very strong interest for the subject of teratology. And it was at that moment, as I stared into the unbelievable anatomy of these incredible creatures, that I made the decision of pursuing the subject of teratology for this particular research essay.

The similarities, and differences, between Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s Anatomy of Dr. Tulp (1632) and Thomas Eakins’ The Agnew Clinic (1889) are both uncanny and unprecedented. Painted in 1630’s Amsterdam during the Dutch Baroque period, Rembrandt sought to preserve the rare occasion in which a real human body was used as an academic tool in order to prove anatomy theories. On the contrary, Eakins piece was painted in 19th century America during the realist movement to memorialize a retiring professor. However, it is their similarities that make them comparable; they were both commissioned by academic institutions, they both depict a surgery in progress, they both celebrate the careers of notable

Although challenging, the exploration of anatomy sealed any doubt that I may have had about

Picture opening up a box with over 1000 pieces belonging to a jigsaw puzzle, emptying the contents out on to a tabletop, and then being tasked with putting those pieces together to ultimately create a beautiful picture of the human anatomy. One can imagine the eye for detail, patience and thoroughness that would be required to complete such a task. As with any puzzle it is critical that the wider picture is envisioned at all times, as focusing on only one piece would effectively hinder any progress towards completion.

Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Gericault’s Severed Heads and Limbs: The Politics and Aesthetics of the Scaffold,” The Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 4 (December, 1992), pp. 599-618

One of the more famous artists of the time, Rembrandt, created many paintings as well as etchings and wood carvings. One of his paintings known as Monk Reading (Fig. 1)demonstrates the stanch influence of Protestant principles. In Monk Reading the solitary monk is seen reading alone almost concealed by his cowl. This inwardly transfixed individual is brought to the foreground in traditional baroque style by being placed on a dark background. The Monk's gaze is thoughtfully on the pages in his hand which shed the only luminescence in the painting. Unlike many Baroque paintings, depicting extreme emotional circumstances such as murder or other foul acts, this Monk appears to be contently in deep thought while studying the text in his hand. He seems relaxed and reverent which is contrary to most examples of Catholic Baroque art and indeed many examples of Protestant art.

The Classical period of Ancient Greece produced some of the most beautiful and intensely felt sculptures ever. The sculptures of this time period are characterized by a freedom of movement and a freedom of expression. Of the many notable works there is one that every college student should understand, the Discobolus by Myron, or the Discus Thrower. This sculpture celebrates the style of the time period like no other. “The best example showing freedom of movement is the Discobolos (The Discus Thrower) by Myron in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.”

Giovanni Morgagni’s approach to anatomy was through looking at the bodily changes caused by disease, but on the post mortem side of the spectrum. He looked at the anatomy of the body during autopsies of people who had died from an illness or disease. By performing autopsies, Morgagni made several discoveries that changed the science of anatomy. He performed over 700

Anatomy is to physiology, as geography is to history; it describes the theatre of events. Medical culture that emphasized the study of anatomy through human vivisection peaked in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC, with Herophilus and Erasistratus- the two primary anatomists of the 3rd century- spearheading this movement. Alexandria was the ideal place to study anatomy and physiology during the Hellenistic period since the research was not tied down by civil laws, taboos, or moralism that prevailed on the Greek mainland. Although the practice of human vivisection was decreed by the priesthood throughout the rest of Egypt and Athens, it was not so in this well-insulated center of learning.