A Single Plate, Musculorum Tabula V from Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani.

From the first edition of one of the greatest of all Anatomical Atlases. Tabula V, which features Albinus and Wandelaar's famous "Muscle Man", a skinned figure whose musculature is visible and defined, as viewed from behind standing with the left arm raised, right arm turned and his weight shifted to the right foot. Elephant folio, 620 by 475 mm, single folio sheet, now mounted with the use of none-evasive corner tabs and protected by mylar. Very well preserved, fully intact with only the most minor evidence of age.

Edizione: one of the magnificent plates from "among the most artistically perfect of anatomical atlases." wandelaar placed his skeletons and musclemen against lush ornamental backgrounds to give them the illusion of vitality, using contrasts of mass and light to produce a three-dimensional effect. the most famous plate in the atlas depicts a skeletal figure standing in front of an enormous grazing rhinoceros, sketched by wandelaar from the first living specimen in europe, which had arrived at amsterdam zoo in 1741" (norman).<br> the plates in this large folio work, and in the four supplementary works in large folio with which it is bound, are unsurpassed for their cool, elegant aesthetic and scientific accuracy. they were drawn and engraved by jan wandelaer, a pupil of the engravers jacob fokema and guillem van der gouwen, and the painter gerard de lairesse, who prepared the drawings for bidloo's atlas. prior to working for albinus wandelaer worked for friedrik ruysch. albinus, however, provided wandelaar with the opportunity for the full expression of his talents as a draftsman and engraver. <br> in an attempt to increase the scientific accuracy of anatomical illustration, albinus and wandelaar devised a new technique of placing nets with square webbing at specified intervals between the artist and the anatomical specimen and copying the images using the grid patterns. wandelaer placed each figure in a carefully chosen landscape setting, and the artistic results are so pleasantly successful that the anatomical figures, although composed of many separate parts, appear to be actually stepping out of the picture.