Textures of Anatomy: Images and Practice at the University of Padua in the Seventeenth Century

In this paper I explore the relationship between skin, skin represented as fabric, and fabric covering skin within this context of seasonality in the representation of human bodies in anatomical works of the seventeenth century. I begin with engravings by Odoardo Fialetti, commissioned by Giulio Cesare Casseri, professor of anatomy at the University of Padua for his Tabula Anatomica (1627). These are some of the most remarkable examples of representational choice in the history of anatomy. The evidence of dissection is contrasted with plants and trees in the height of summer foliage. These images show people disrobing themselves of their skin, or as though an invisible hand were casting their skin aside like fabric. The conflation of skin with cloth in these images reinforces a paradoxically lively presentation of the cadaver, and blurs the relationship of the human body to the surrounding environment. This depiction is in remarkable contrast to the circumstances of bodily dissection in the early seventeenth century, which occurred by necessity in the winter. The seasonal experience of medical teaching at the time reflected the availability and ease of use for teaching materials. University medical education centered on the teaching of the experiential sciences of botany and anatomy. In this paper I analyse the practice of anatomy at Padua in the context of costume books and the fabric trade in the Republic of Venice. I show that the novelties of the early modern world and the novelties of anatomy are key in knowledge in Renaissance medicine.