Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, Basel: ex. off. J. Oporini, pp. 170 and 174, woodcut, leaf height 43 cm, N*.1.2(A).

The figures in the Fabrica were large and detailed. Just like the original images in Berengario’s Short introduction or in Estienne’s On dissection, Vesalius’s figures of muscles are posed against a landscape, but they are of better quality, display many more details, and maximize the amount of anatomical detail described.

The first figure (left) of muscles shows the body of a sturdy man from which Vesalius had removed the skin, flat, fleshy membranes, surface veins, nerves and arteries. He notes that there is nothing that a knowledgeable painter or sculptor has not seen before, but also points out that they must also learn how muscles contract and expand in motion. This is perhaps why most of the dissected bodies in the Fabrica are posed. The figure is shown as if stepping out on his left foot, with his arms stretched out.

There is also a certain economy in the way the figures are posed Fabrica. In this figure, one hand shows the palm, the other the side of the hand and the index finger, ensuring that as many structures as possible are shown. This is the case also with the second woodcut of muscles (right), where the inside and outside muscles of the arm and of the leg are shown in this one pose.