The human body as shown in Renaissance art

From around 1300 to about 1600

Many situations for depicting the human body emerged, as did comparably marked alterations in how the body was represented. Many portraits were created during this time period, ranging from sensual nudity to memorial effigy and anatomical depictions of the body. Following that, the art was distinguished by increased quantity and prominence across a variety of markets and audiences.

The aspect of the human form

The aspect of the human form has been employed to depict the period via cultural movement for as long as historians have contested the concept of a renaissance. The period is marked as a sense of Heroic individuality to reflect a particularized activity that is not evident in the medieval art which is thought to assert the physical sensation and sensual experiences (Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, 2). A few scholars have recently taken a decreased celebratory view to relate visual representation and emergence of the body as an object with knowledge.

With increased appearances of nudity in Christian art

With increased appearances of nudity in Christian art, there was a new visual expression of the established theological principles of viewing the body. While taking a look at the medieval art, the naked forms of the male and female body were occurring in scenes depicting human history. With the appearance of Christ as an infant as nude, male children were sometimes given prominence. The sexuality of Christ represented the human nature and signified the redemption of the body through the divine taking of the human flesh.

Renaissance period was marked by an artistic culture

Renaissance period was marked by an artistic culture that was begun by humans. Following some of the earliest scholars, body in art approach observes follows a defined proportion of attributes. Alberti and Ghiberti encouraged artists to study the structure of the body just by looking beneath its surface and focus on the arrangement of the bones, muscles, and sinews. Attendance of the body anatomy was recommended by some of the earliest scholars (Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, 4).Although attitudes towards dissection and autopsy were considered liberal, public dissection was not held quite often. There was no firm evidence or documentary for the artists who were directly studying anatomy. However, there were claims that some scholars carried out body dissections. By 16th Century, there were at least few engagements in human anatomy that gained many followers.

How dissection practices change

The main change witnessed during the medieval and renaissance period was the increase in medical knowledge. Before the period, some continents such as Europe were largely built and dependent on theories with lack of adequate information of what was working. With the shift towards a scientific approach, aided by the anatomical expertise of Renaissance artists, there was an improvement of the situation as the doctors gradually throwing superstition as they develop cures and improve surgical procedures (Sanjib, 4).

The change witnessed during this period

The change witnessed during this period, which was an increase in anatomical knowledge allowed physicians to gain much understanding of the human body and do away with harmful techniques that rather than curing. Previously, religious movements had banned dissections with the belief that it was a process that was characterized by lack of dignity for the deceased, who ought to be buried wholly.

The other aspect that was captured by a change in knowledge

The other aspect that was capture by a change in knowledge was the transmission of medical knowledge from the Middle East, a region that was marked by advances in the treatment of diseases and injury. Some parts of the knowledge from the Middle East were moved to Europe due to migration following the collapse of Islamic dominion. The advanced procedures that were used by Muslim physicians continued to refine others’ knowledge of the anatomy through scrutinizing how the human body works. Thus, the Muslim doctors encouraged scientific studying of the body through making detailed observations.

The religious movements and churches

The religious movements and churches, however, allowed the dissection of blasphemers and criminals gruesomely despite some criminals being dissected alive as the audience watched as part of the study. Other scholars such as William Harvey made a breakthrough through studying a dog, which reflected how the heart pumps blood. The knowledge of how the heart pumped blood and circulated throughout the body changed the medical practices and was the end of harmful acts of bloodletting by barber-surgeons. It also revealed that the body is made up of specialized systems that function differently that worked in an interrelated manner to allow life. It was a discovery that would make people understands that the body was like a machine.

People who performed dissections

Through direct observations of the human body, many physicians were able to against the ideas of ancient medical philosophers, exemplified by Galen. With several people going against the laws of Catholic Church, people started studying and observing the human bodies. During the Renaissance period, one figure was very important in the steps in medicine, the person was Andreas Vesalius. He gave an important contribution by studying humans through dissection.

Another Scholar, Galen dissected animals

Another Scholar, Galen dissected animals such as monkeys and pigs and compared their anatomy to that of a human. He came with lots of false information about the anatomy of human body. He came with a wrong hypothesis of the human jaw bone. Since he only dissected animals with similar anatomy, he concluded that the human jaw bone was made of three parts just like the animals he observed.

Knowledge provided by post-mortem dissections

As earlier stated, the main change in Renaissance medicine was increased knowledge that was contributed to by ease of legal and cultural restrictions that surrounded dissection. Generally, post-mortem dissection made the doctors understand more of the human body than as before. Through the dissection, there were various contributions of medical knowledge seen helpful to medicine.

In the earlier years, William Harvey

In the earlier years, William Harvey made a significant contribution through his studies of dying dogs where he discovered that the heart pumped blood to all parts of the body and that the heart was separated into two beating halves. Through discovering that the heart pumped blood to all parts of the body, significant changes in medical practices were observed. It depicted the human body as a group of specialized systems that worked in relationship with each other. Most importantly, dissection made it possible to discover the ways of stopping bleeding among patients rather than inflicting shocks of cauterization.

Alongside improvement in the understanding of body working mechanism, physicians were able to develop better cures just from the knowledge gained during dissection. In addition to the herbs and cures that were used by Islamic physicians, example was quinine that was extracted from the back of quina tree and used in the treatment of malaria. Despite much medicine not having effect, physicians showed willingness to think and try new things following human dissection rather than being stuck in medieval thought. What’s more, there were improvements in surgical procedures from the knowledge of post-mortem dissection.

Works cited

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Human Body in Renaissace Art. WORLD HISTORY,

2000. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CBT2354500241&source=Bookmark&u=wheelerschlib&jsid=2d83661c48811de4e792f69493522e52 Accessed 10 Dec, 2017.

Oscar Blakstad. Renaissance Medicine. Explorable.

2017. https://explorable.com/renaissance-medicine Accessed 10 Dec, 2017.

Sanjib Kumar Ghosh. Human cadaveric dissection: a historical account from ancient

Greece to the modern era. NCBI, Sep. 2015 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4582158/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4582158/ Accessed 10 Dec, 2017