Medicine and Art

On Monday the 20^th January, a very interesting article was published in the Guardian examining the relationship between medicine and art. The article featured some modern artists and the work that they are doing including creating artistic pieces from bacteria and theatrical shows which confront medical issues. Another recent example of this cross-over was featured on BBC’s Dragon’s Den; in this instance a couple are creating bespoke artwork from people’s DNA. The feature in the Guardian goes on to acknowledge that there has been a relationship between medicine and art for many decades. Most people will be very aware of Leonardo Da Vinci’s anatomical drawings from the 1500s but he wasn’t the only artist to depict the anatomy of the human body in astonishing detail.

Examining the atlases, and of course the plates and illustrations within our books you have

An image from Hunter's Gravid Uterus

to feel that the artists involved were exceptionally talented. It is astounding the minute details that are captured by these medical illustrators. An example of such an artist is Jan Van Rymsdyk, whose work on William Smellie’s Anatomical Tables and William Hunter’s Gravid Uterus are well known. He was a portrait painter by ambition, but unfortunately, it seems he was unsuccessful in this aspect of his career. However, it must be said that although he did not gain a huge amount of recognition during his lifetime, his work is now regarded as some of the best anatomical art of the eighteenth century. We hold a copy of Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrate which features the engravings of Van Rymsdyk’s work and it, along some of the other atlases, are well worth viewing for those interested in these kinds of medical and scientific illustrations.

In Ireland in the 1800s, there were brothers from Cork who were very influential in this area, Jones and Richard Quain. Jones Quain (1796-1865) published his most ambitious work, a five volume atlas with lithographic plates, between 1836 and 1842. He was an expert in the area having taught anatomy in a medical school in Aldergate Street in London. Richard Quain (1800-1887), was involved in publishing a number of anatomical works, however, unlike his brother he worked with an illustrator, another Cork-born man by the name of Joseph Maclise. In fact, Maclise went on to publish his own Surgical Anatomy in 1851, receiving praise for both its medical and artistic qualities. You can view a version of the plates with the descriptions on Internet Archive.

Another interesting find in this area is a book entitled The anatomy of the external forms
of man intended for the use of artists, painters and sculptors. This work was by Dr Julien Fau, with additions by Robert Knox and lithographed by French artist Jean Baptiste Francois Leveille. This shows that the relationship was not one way. While artists were creating illustrations for the purposes of medical men’s education, there were also medics involved in the creation of books to aid artists, sculptors and painters.

This subject was covered in one of our History of Medicine Research Awards presentations during St. Luke’s Symposium, when Martina Hynan from UCD spoke about the anatomical vensus. This presentation was extremely interesting and again shows the ways in which medicine and art can influence each other and in many ways become slightly intertwined. The anatomical venus being used for medical education but also as a spectacle or artistic piece.

These are just some examples - the relationship between art and medicine has been around for generations and remains strong. It will be interesting to see what a new generation of artists and medics will add to the tradition.

By Sarah Kennedy,

Library Intern