Keywords
art history; medical history; applied anatomy; science history; art in science; historical anatomy
Abstract
From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, European anatomical illustration underwent major transformations in response to changing scientific methods, technologies, and visual conventions, reflecting critical transitions in anatomical history. Scientific evolution allowed these images to achieve increasing structural precision and internal detail, though they frequently diverged from anatomical forms as they are understood today. This study examines how anatomical inaccuracies across five centuries emerged not from ignorance, but from deliberate mediation between purpose, observation, pedagogy, artistic convention, and cultural ideology. Through close analysis of works in visual comparison to their modern counterparts, this thesis identifies specific deviations from the twenty-first century’s anatomical standards. These inaccuracies are traced to distinct motivations: pedagogical simplification, aesthetic dramatization, physical limitations, and clinical exclusion. Rather than treating anatomical error as a failure of scientific progress, this work reframes inaccuracy as an artifact of context, revealing how anatomical imagery negotiated truth. Though prior research has denoted the general inaccuracy within the enclosed eras, none yet has done so in comparison with precise acuity of the human form. This work presents European anatomical illustration as a hybrid visual language that reshaped the representation of the body. In doing so, it offers a sustained, anatomically specific account of how the representation of the body developed alongside the discipline of anatomy itself.
Thesis Completion Year
2026
Thesis Completion Semester
Spring
Thesis Chair
Colon Mendoza, Ilenia
College
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
Department of Art History
Thesis Discipline
Art History
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Mitchell, Marina G., "Bodies of Knowledge: The Accuracy of Medical Anatomical Drawings from the 14th to the 18th Century" (2026). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 615.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/615
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Body Regions Commons, European History Commons, Interprofessional Education Commons, Medical Anatomy Commons, Medical Humanities Commons
Accessibility Statement
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