facts must first be collected, and not created by a process of speculation.
One of the earliest and most thorough students of human
anatomy was Marc Antonio della Torre (1473-1506), who
belonged to an honorable family of Verona, several members
of which had attained distinction as physicians. He
planned to publish a treatise on anatomy, and, with this
object in view, secured the assistance of Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1515), the celebrated painter, architect and civil
engineer, to make life-size pictures of the parts which he
had dissected with such care. But, after the latter had
completed many of the drawings which were intended to
serve as illustrations for the projected treatise, Della Torre
unexpectedly died, and the book was never finished. Quite
a number of the drawings, however, found their way to
England, and for many years past they have been carefully
treasured at Windsor Castle and in certain private
collections. If Della Torre's life had been spared it is
highly probable that his treatise on anatomy, equipped with
illustrations copied from this great artist's drawings, would
have constituted a formidable rival of Vesalius' famous
work.
Not long after this event it became the rule, among the leading painters and sculptors of the Renaissance period, to pay a great deal of attention to the study of human anatomy. The museums of Central and Southern Italy contain quite a large number of anatomical drawings that were made by Michael Angelo, by Raphael and by other great masters of that period. Doubtless many of my readers recall seeing, in the Cathedral of Milan, Marco Agrate's (1562) extraordinary masterpiece, in the form of a life-size black marble statue which represents Saint Bartholomew standing erect, and carrying on one arm the folded skin of his entire body. In this statue all the muscles and bony prominences are modeled with perfect accuracy. It is a remarkable work of art.
