Albinus on Anatomy

by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle

This beautiful, enthralling book represents the rarest of human achievements: a work of great scientific merit that is a magnificent work of art as well. Bernard Siegfried Albinus was the greatest descriptive anatomist of the eighteenth century. Over a period of twenty years, he produced two volumes of drawings, Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body and Tables of the Human Bones, that have long been revered for their...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 048625836X
• ISBN13: 9780486258362
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.3" x 12.2"

Customer Reviews

most versatile anatomy plates anywhere

Albinus on Anatomy is one of my favorite resources as a body worker and movement specialist. There are not many places where we have such wonderful pictures of the entire skeleton that are not in "anatomical position". The opening pages are not only works of art but give us visions of the inner workings of human anatomy as it lives and breaths and moves in everyday life. I highly recommend this book as a front line resource for anyone who teaches movement or coaches sports or works with the body in any healing art.

For art students, this book is GREAT!!!!!!

Albinus on Anatomy is a great book. I am a printmaking student;My teacher introduced this book to me when I asked her about detailed etchings of the human figure. I love how intricate and delicate the lines are to create figure. They remind me of the prints of Rembrandt. For anyone interested in art, I really suggest this book. It's great for those studying to be medical illustrators, print students, the everyday sketchers.......ANYONE! It's also great for those who just love to learn about the anatomy of the body.

A beautiful and acurate anatomy lesson for artists

This oversized book contains over 200 illustrations of the human body, posed so as to be of use to the artist studying the human form. Beautiful and highly accurate, the book can be a valuable tool for the artist wishing to improve his skill through a better knowledge of human anatomy. Albinus himself is not solely responsible for the engravings. He collaborated with an artist who did the drawings and finally the copper plate engravings of the figure. In the meantime, Albinus arranged the poses and oversaw the process from rough sketches to the manipulations of the printing press, ensuring that the accuracy and quality of the images were preserved. The figures are represented with various layers of tissue exposed, first the nude model, then the outer layer of muscle, the next layer of muscle, the organs, down to the bare skeletons. Each layer has an anterior and a posterior view. The potential for the engravings to become a grim lesson on internal anatomy is offset by the engraving artist¹s whimsy. He was allowed artistic freedom with the background on each plate, and the settings range from a Greek temple to a verdant forest. In one plate a rhinoceros grazes directly behind the model. For the student of anatomy, each bone is taken individually, and the proportions, muscle attachments, and major connective tissue are shown for each in turn. A passionate introduction to drawing the human body starts the book off, and a complete index ties it together. The playful, detailed drawings make this book attractive to the artist and the art admirer alike. For its size and complexity, this book is a great buy.