Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1142

JEAN GALBERT SALVAGE (fl. 1796-1812) Anatomie du gladiateur combattant, applicable aux beaux arts. Chez l'auteur 1812 iv, 64 pp., front., plates (part col.). 56.8 cm.

This rare and beautiful book, with twenty-two large copperplates drawn by the author, uses several well-known classical sculptures for the anatomical subjects. Salvage was a French military surgeon whose studies of classical sculpture led him to the conclusion that the perfection of its execution was such that accurate bone and muscular structure could be illustrated in representations of the sculptures. "The 'Planche d'Instruction' and the fifteen plates immediately following it are struck off from two plates so as to bring out the bones in black and the body contours and muscles in red" (Choulant-Frank, pp. 333-334). The effect is striking and the text, engraved along with the plates, was printed in the same manner.

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, pp. 332-334; Waller 8435

Gift of John Martin, M.D.