title: Iconography and provenance of versals in De humani corporis fabrica: Vesalius/Kalkar.
abstract: The most well known feature of Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543) are the ecorches (Fr. flayed human body) striding in the environs of Padua, Italy. These illustrations are the apex of an unsurpassed achievement in anatomical illustration. Not as obvious, striking or well known and oft neglected are the versals (the ornate capital letters at the beginning of a paragraph) in De fabrica. Not as well crafted, artistically, as the ecorches the versals transcend the realm of anatomy and science into mythological and iconographic interpretation. Did Vesalius have the artistic talent and was well versed in humanities to execute such ecorches and meaningful versals? Almost certainly there were other artists involved, well versed in art and humanities--more probably Johannes Stephanus Kalkar (c. 1499-1546).
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, West Virginia University, Health Sciences North, Morgantown, WV 26506-9128, USA. rhilloowala@hsc.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Rumy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hilloowala
mesh_terms: D000716:Anatomy, Artistic / Q000266:history*; D001271:Atlases as Topic / Q000266:history*; D006663:Historiography; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic / Q000266:history