What is a rhinoceros doing in an 18th-century anatomy book? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
In this episode of From the Archives, Katherine Satriano, Head of Archives and Special Collections at Columbia University Irving Medical Center's Health Sciences Library, opens a remarkable volume from the rare book collection: Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani, a 1747 anatomical atlas by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, illustrated by Dutch artist Jan Wandelaar.
Standing behind one of its exquisitely rendered skeletons is Clara, a rhinoceros who became something of a European celebrity during the 1740s. Wandelaar's engraving captures an unlikely meeting of scientific precision and artistic imagination. The illustration was even published separately to promote the atlas, with Clara herself providing some of the attraction.
As Satriano explains, anatomical illustration had long borrowed from the visual language of art, placing human figures against pastoral landscapes, classical architecture, and symbols of mortality. Yet by the mid-18th century, the relationship between art and science was beginning to change. Albinus's elaborate backgrounds drew criticism for distracting from the anatomy, and later editions dispensed with them.
The atlas was also remarkably innovative. Its detailed labeling helped readers connect anatomical structures with their descriptions, while a grid of string positioned between the artist and the specimen allowed for greater accuracy in scale and proportion.
And then, of course, there's Clara. As Satriano turns to another engraving, she remarks, "Here we have the front of Clara, but we also need the back, which I think is very funny."
Nearly three centuries later, these extraordinary copperplate engravings offer more than a lesson in anatomy. They preserve a moment when scientific observation, technical ingenuity, and the pleasures of artistic expression still shared the same page.
Other episodes:
- Vesalius’ Epitome: A Book Meant to Be Used
- A Student Notebook from 1878-79 Captures the Arrival of Antiseptic Surgery