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Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams...

Amsterdam, 1690. Copperplate engraving with etching. National Library of Medicine.

Govard Bidloo
(1649-1713)
[anatomist]

Gérard de Lairesse
(1640-1711)
[artist]

This stark dissection—with ragged flesh fully displayed and hands bound with a cord—signals a commitment to a higher level of realism. To our eyes, the picture may suggest a distressing indifference to, or even pleasure in, human suffering.

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