Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide - Hardcover

Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide - Hardcover

$34.95
Skip to product information
Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide - Hardcover

Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide - Hardcover

$34.95

by Joanna Ebenstein (Editor)

A lavishly illustrated guide to the magnum opus of the great seventeenth-century anatomist, master embalmer, artist, and collector of specimens.

Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) was a celebrated Dutch anatomist, master embalmer, and museologist. He is best remembered today for strange tableaux, crafted from fetal skeletons and other human remains, that flicker provocatively at the edges of science, art, and memento mori. Ruysch exhibited these pieces, along with hundreds of other artful specimens, in his home museum and catalogued them in his lavishly illustrated Thesaurus Anatomicus. This book offers the first English translation of Ruysch's guide to his collection, along with all the illustrations from the original volume, photographs of some his most imaginative extant specimens, and more.

Ruysch was at once a brilliant scientist, a preternaturally gifted technician, an esteemed physician, a religious moralizer, and an artist whose prime form of expression was the medium of human remains. His works were sometimes described as "Rembrandts of anatomical preparation"; today they seem so strange that we can hardly believe that they even existed, much less that they were so popular in their time. His combination of the religious and the scientific, the painstakingly accurate and the extravagantly fantastical, offers vivid testimony of an era in which science overlapped seamlessly with religion and art. Essays accompanying Ruysch's text and images consider such topics as the historical context of Ruysch's work, the paradox of an artist of death whose work engenders the illusion of life, the conservation of Ruysch's specimens, and the shifting ascendancies of romanticism and rationality in the natural sciences.

Author Biography

Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, photographer, and graphic designer. She is the creator of the Morbid Anatomy blog, library, and event series and cofounded the now-shuttered Morbid Anatomy Museum.

Number of Pages: 224
Dimensions: 1.26 x 10.08 x 8.27 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: September 20, 2022

Made with care

Great value

Elegant design

Quality materials

Details

This product is crafted with quality materials to ensure durability and performance. Designed with your convenience in mind, it seamlessly fits into your everyday life.

Shipping & Returns

We strive to process and ship all orders in a timely manner, working diligently to ensure that your items are on their way to you as soon as possible.

We are committed to ensuring a positive shopping experience for all our customers. If for any reason you wish to return an item, we invite you to reach out to our team for assistance, and we will evaluate every return request with care and consideration.

Play video

Shop The Full Collection

!Ah y Le Lo Lay, Le Lo Ley! Musica Tipica de Puerto Rico - Paperback

!Búscalo! (Look It Up!): A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage - Hardcover

!Búscalo! (Look It Up!): A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage - Paperback

!LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS! !REPARATIONS NOW! The Many Reasons Why: St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery Church, The Dutch Royal Family, The Kingdom of the Net - Paperback