George Stubbs ARA, Human Skeleton: lateral view, 1804-06.
Etching. 477 mm x 375 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: John Hammond.
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Human Skeleton: lateral view, 1804-06
George Stubbs ARA (1724 - 1806)
RA Collection: Art
These haunting images of the human form were drawn and etched by George Stubbs for his last great venture in the field of anatomy, a hugely ambitious, incomplete treatise entitled A Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Human Body with that of a Tiger and Common Fowl, London, [1804-06]. Marking the culmination of his lifelong study of the subject, Stubbs's investigation of the homology of the bone structure of vertebrates was at the forefront of current scientific thought. However in his desire to prove his theories he drew the anatomical figure of a man that is so far from the classical norm as to evoke the pathos of ugliness.
Object details
477 mm x 375 mm
No I. (-III) Of A Comparative Anatomical Exposition Of The Structure Of The Human Body, With That Of A Tiger And Common Fowl; In Thirty Tables, Two Copper-Plates To Each Table, 20 Inches By 15; Forming Six Numbers - Ten Plates To Each Number. The Whole Executed By George Stubbs, Author Of "The Anatomy Of The Horse." Conditions ... [6 lines] - London:: [1803?-ca. 1806]
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