Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum, Westminster: Wynkyn de Worde, 1496, fvi verso, woodcut, leaf height 26.8 cm, Inc.3.J.1.2[3559].

This woodcut appeared in the section on the human body and its parts in Bartholomaeus Anglicus’s On the properties of things, a popular medieval source book for various topics mentioned in the Bible. It is based on the one included by Mathias Huss (Lyon) in his earlier edition of De proprietatibus rerum.

Indoors, on a table, is a body of a man whose innards are taken out by the man in the centre, perhaps the physician in charge. To his left appear to be male and female assistants, while to his right is a man of some distinction (judging from his stature and clothing), with another man with a purse behind him. Three men are pointing with their index finger, usually signifying instruction or authority; while the woman’s open palm suggests affirmation or acceptance. This may well be a generic representation of a postmortem dissection, often carried out in cases of suspicious deaths of members of family of high status.