“To Draw a Body, Human or Beast, One Must Study Anatomy”

Abstract

Abstract Contributing to the merging fields of art history, visual culture, and history of science, this article brings forward Carlo Ruini’s (1530–1598) equine anatomical treatise Dell’Anotomia et dell’Infermità del Cavallo (1598). The introduction of Ruini’s epistemic imagery, specifically a flayed horse depicted in what has been termed the “foreshortened-frontalized-equestrian” pose, offers a new perspective to existing art historical scholarship, hypothesising on the role of anatomy in depictive choices within early modern equestrian portraiture. The anatomical poses and postures originally found in Dell’Anotomia reappear in portraits of equine subjects by Rubens and his followers thus challenging currently held academic theories concerning their source of inspiration. The application of elements from Ruini’s Dell’Anotomia within a seventeenth-century practical guide for artists further underscores anatomy’s influence on equestrian portraiture, thus evidencing a deliberate response to the relationship between science, early modern equestrian culture, and art.