Enlarging the image in the lecture theatre: giant oil paintings and anatomy teaching in Spain, 1870–1930

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, a new method for teaching anatomy shifted the professor’s position from the middle of the lecture amphitheatre to one side of the room. In this spot, the wall was used to display a variety of visual ‘flat technologies’ such as blackboards, oil paintings, wallcharts and light projections, among other visual aids. This article studies these changes in the visual culture of anatomy in Spain by analysing the programme developed by José de Letamendi based on giant oil paintings. The authors follow the influence of this new scheme throughout different chairs in Spain up to the first few decades of the twentieth century, focusing on the anatomy theatre of the University of Valladolid as its most prominent example. This analysis examines the relationships between the various flat technologies and puts into perspective the interest of the anatomists of this period in the methodological aspects of teaching.