A Cyclops, a Stone, and a Four-Breasted Woman: Drawing Anatomical Knowledge

Abstract

Drawings have a long history communicating new ideas, and in the early modern period, they were mobilized by a new form of institution—the scientific society—which emerged as a permanent structure to facilitate novel modes of pursuing and producing anatomical knowledge. This collaborative approach engendered new techniques for communicating and circulating knowledge among investigators, including innovative visual and material practices. Institutions such as the Royal Society of London and the Académie royale des sciences in Paris produced hundreds of drawings, by both artists and philosophers, in the course of their pursuits to understand the functions, structures, and diseases of the body. From depictions of bladder stones to monstrous births, drawings not only recorded anatomical investigations but often stood in for anatomical objects themselves. This essay explores how these early scientific societies created and used drawings as an important tool in their work, particularly in the study of human anatomy. From drawn accounts of dissected cadavers to recording anatomical anomalies, drawings circulated in society meetings, were debated by members, and were recorded in the institution’s minutes. This essay focuses on the materiality of drawings and their ability to preserve and perpetuate anatomical knowledge in ways that ephemeral specimens were not able to match. Based on unstudied archival drawings, this essay contends that image-making was a central component to the study of human anatomy in early scientific societies and that these drawings were a crucial tool in the process of anatomical discovery and knowledge production during their early years.