Van Calcar was a Fleming, a native of Kalcker in the Duchy of Cleves. The date of his birth is not known. His death occurred at Naples in 1546. He was highly esteemed by Vesalius who speaks of him as ranking “with the divine and happy wits of Italy”. The anatomical plates which Vesalius issued in 1538 were made, he states, by van Calcar:—sumptibus Joannis Stephani Calcarensis. These plates, which appeared in the form of pictorial broad sheets, or Fliegende Blätter, may be likened to the Herald who goes in advance to announce the coming of the King. They were engraved on wood, and, like their companion pictures in the Fabrica, they were unprecedented in magnitude and in minuteness.
SECOND VESALIAN PLATE OF THE MUSCLES
(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)
The Vesalian plates vary greatly in merit. The most satisfactory ones are those depicting the undissected body and the bones and muscles. The artist was not at his best in drawing the nervous system, although it is claimed that Vesalius had prepared his neurologic specimens with great care. For the use of artists, the best plates are the three skeletons and the four entire myologic figures in the Fabrica. The first myologic figure, showing a man who has been divested of all skin, fat, and superficial fascia, presents the muscles of the anterior portion of the body beautifully delineated. Vesalius took much pride in this plate, and directed the attention of artists to it. The second plate, which is constructed along similar lines, shows the body in its lateral aspect. The head is thrown slightly backward, the right hand pointing to the earth and the left raised towards the horizon, and the whole attitude of the subject calls to mind the position which an orator would assume when addressing an audience. The third myologic plate is similar to the first one, but the muscles of the face are exhibited to better advantage and the aponeuroses, absent in the first plate, are here present. The fourth plate, which is the ninth in Vesalius’s work (nona musculorum tabula), presents the muscles of the posterior part of the body. The other myologic figures show the deeper muscles, layer by layer, and are of value to an artist who wishes to study the effect of their action upon the superficial parts of the body. Hence many of these figures have been reproduced in works on art-anatomy. The artist who studies these plates should remember that the figures in question are divested of skin, fat, and superficial veins—all of which must be supplied, in order to avoid giving too great prominence to the muscles. The two naked figures contained in the Epitome are properly clothed in skin and are of great artistic merit. They also are to be seen in numerous works on art-anatomy. Thus, in one of the earliest books on anatomy for the use of artists (Abrégé d’anatomie accommodé aux arts de peinture et de sculpture. Paris, 1667, 1668), Rogers de Piles and François Tortebat have used the three skeletons and seven myologic figures taken from the Fabrica and the Epitome. In the preface of his book, de Piles says that he does not think it is possible to produce better figures than those found in the works of Vesalius. That he was not alone in this opinion is shown by the fact that many other artists, who have composed treatises on art-anatomy, have drawn freely from the Vesalian storehouse. An Italian, Giacomo Moro, in his anatomy for the use of artists, (Anatomia ridotta ad uso de’ pittori e scultore. Venice 1679), reproduced nineteen of Vesalius’s figures in copperplate.
NINTH VESALIAN PLATE, OF THE MUSCLES
(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)
The popularity of Vesalius’s anatomical figures among painters was due, not only to the intrinsic worth of these illustrations, but also to the erroneous belief that the original drawings were the work of Titian. This opinion found expression on the title-pages of several works on art-anatomy. For example, in 1706, Moschenbauer, of Augsburg, issued a folio volume illustrated with Vesalian figures cut in wood, with this title:—Andreae Vesalii, Bruxellensis, des ersten besten Anatomici, Zergliederung des menschlichen Körpers auf Mahlerey, and Bildhauer-Kunst gerichtet, die Figuren von Titian gezeichnet. An anonymous book, Notomia di Titanio, appeared in Italy about the year 1670.
The Vesalian figures of the skeleton were also issued in single sheets with moralistic verses appended. Moehsen cites one of these with the inscription printed in French:
“De cet objet affreux tu parois rebutté,
Est c’est ce que dans peu cependant tu dois étre: