Speaking to the current group ofstudents, Bourn told them that VesaliusFabrica was more than an anatomy textbook; it changed the way medicine was taught. In 1537, Vesalius graduated with what was then a classical European medical education. In anatomy courses, his professors would read straight from the works of the ancient Greek physician Galen, who was born in 129, while an assistant dissected a cadaver to illustrate the structures discussed in the text. Galens teachings were considered the gold standard for more than 1,000 years, and they were above reproach.

Then Vesalius moved to Padua University to teach surgery. And after he began dissecting his own cadavers, he made a shocking discovery: Some of Galens facts were inaccurate because, for religious reasons, hed never dissected a human body only pigs, oxen, dogs and monkeys.

So, at age 23, Vesalius meticulously began separating fact from fiction in Galens anatomical works. For example, he discovered that the human jaw is one bone, not two, and the breastbone has three segments, not seven. This information wasnt well-received by the medical establishment; to overcome resistance, Vesalius held public dissections, built skeletal models and published Fabrica, with its 600 anatomical charts and illustrations. (To keep up with Vesalius demand for cadavers, students and Padua city officials often had to repurpose bodies from cemeteries and the hangmans noose.)

Vesalius work raised anatomical illustration to a new level of accuracy and artistry. Because he lived in northern Italy during the Renaissance, he had access to some of the most talented artists of the times. Historians believe that he outsourced the illustrations in Fabrica to artists working in master painter Titians studio. The resulting woodcuts were both amazing works of art and disturbing, showing cadavers staged in dramatic poses with layers of skin peeling off to reveal muscle and bone, often drawn with bucolic Italian landscapes in the background. They looked more like storyboard sketches for a zombie apocalypse movie than scientific illustrations.

Artists are still referring to Fabrica today, primarily through restaging these now iconic poses in a contemporary context, said Wight, a new-media artist who is drawn to the intersection of biology, neurology and technology. The woodcuts in Fabrica "convey essential information about anatomy, yes, but they also convey complex attitudes about the human condition and their reflection in human culture.

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Stanford art students get lesson on the evolution of anatomy illustration - Stanford Medical Center Report