Juan Valverde de Amusco
Encyclopedia
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
in what is now Spain in about the year 1525 and studied medicine in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
and Rome under Realdo Columbo and Bartolomeo Eustachi
Bartolomeo Eustachi
Bartolomeo Eustachi , also known by his Latin name of Eustachius, was one of the founders of the science of human anatomy.-Life:...
. He published several works on anatomy, including De animi et corporis sanitate tuenda libellus (Paris, 1552).
Valverde's most famous work was Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano, first published in Rome, 1556. All but four of its 42 engraved copperplate illustrations were taken almost directly from Andreas Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica. Vesalius bitterly commented on Valverde's plagiarism, accusing him of having performed very few dissections himself. Occasionally, however, Valverde corrected Vesalius' images, as in his depictions of the muscles of the eyes, nose, and larynx. One of Valverde's most striking original plates is that of a muscle figure holding his own skin in one hand and a knife in the other, which has been likened to Saint Bartholomew in The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)
The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)
The Last Judgment is a canonical fresco by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo executed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City...
of the Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
.
The original illustrations were most likely drawn by Gaspar Becerra
Gaspar Becerra
Gaspar Becerra was a Spanish painter and sculptor.-Biography:He was born at Baeza in Andalusia. He studied at Rome, it is said under Michelangelo, and assisted Giorgio Vasari in painting the hall of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. He also contributed to the anatomical plates of Juan Valverde de...
(1520–1570), a contemporary of Michelangelo, and the copperplate engravings are thought to have been carried out by Nicolas Beatrizet
Nicolas Beatrizet
Nicolas Béatrizet, a French engraver, was born at Luneville in or before 1520. From his style it has been conjectured that he was a scholar of Ghisi, and of Agostino Veneziano de Musis. From 1540 to 1560 he engraved under the direction of Michelangelo. He died at Rome after 1560...
(1507?-1570?), whose initials "NB" appear on several of the plates.
Source
- Adapted from public domain text at Juan Valverde de Amusco Biography. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
External links
- Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine. Selected pages scanned from the original work.
- http://www.bronwenwilson.ca/physiognomy/pages/biographiesall.html. Wolfe, Susan. "Juan Valverde de Amusco." On the website, "The Boundaries of the Body and Scientific Illustration in Early Modern Europe."
- http://www.bronwenwilson.ca/body.catalogue#susan. Wolfe, Susan. "Peeling off the skin: revealing alternate meanings of Valverde's muscle man." On the website, "The Boundaries of the Body and Scientific Illustration in Early Modern Europe."