Irish Arts Review

Hippocrates revivedAuthor(s): Muriel McCarthySource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 27, No. 3 (AUTUMN (SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2010)),p. 144Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20789413 .

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COLLECTIONS

CURATOR'S CHOICE

Hippocrates revived

Muriel McCarthy selects two related engravings from the current medical

exhibition at Marsh's Library, Dublin

In our current exhibition, Hippocrates

Revived, there are two splendid large

folios. The first, by the Dutch doctor

Govard Bidloo ( 1649-1713), is entitled

Anatomia humani corporis. Published in

Amsterdam in 1685, this superb book

contains 105 illustrations by the famous

artist G?rard de Lairesse ( 1640-1711). The

plates by Lairesse show the human figure

both in living stances and as dissected

corpses. On the page opposite each

illustration there is a brief commentary in

which Bidloo explains the illustration.

Although Lairesse s drawings have been

criticized for anatomical inaccuracies, they

are regarded as artistically splendid and

they illustrate his mastery of the technique

of etching (Fig 2). Govard Bidloo was the son of an

Amsterdam pharmacist. He studied surgery

and became a student of the anatomist

Frederik Ruysch. Afterwards he studied

medicine at the University of Franeker and

achieved his degree in 1682. In 1688 he was appointed lecturer of anatomical dis

section in The Hague and two years later

head of the national hospital service, a

position he also held in England. Bidloo

became a professor of anatomy and medi

cine at the University of Leiden in 1694, a

position he held until his death in 1713.

Gerard de Lairesse was born in Li?ge in

1640 and moved to Amsterdam in 1666. He

was an outstanding painter, draftsman and

engraver. Lairesse received commissions

from wealthy patrons and religious institu

tions. He produced elegant allegorical paint

ings, including one that celebrated the

military victories of William III. The portrait

of Bidloo used as a frontispiece was painted

by Lairesse and engraved by the distin

guished Dutch engraver Abraham Blooteling.

The second book is The anatomy of humane bodies

by the English surgeon and anatomist

William Cowper (1666/7-1710), pub lished in Oxford in 1698. Cowper was the son of Richard Cowper of Petersf?eld,

Hampshire. He became a surgeon and was

admitted a freeman of the Company of

Barber-Surgeons and practised in London.

Elected a member of the Royal Society, he

wrote important medical articles which

were published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions. His first major work, Myotomia

reformata, was published in 1694. Cowper

was a skilful surgeon and anatomist. His

expert designs, drawings and publications

meant that he was held in high regard by his contemporaries.

William Cowper s Anatomy of humane bodies

contains most of the plates used by

Govard Bidloo in his Anatomia humani cor

poris. Cowper published the plates as his own with a new, more detailed, text and

included an appendix with nine extra

plates (Fig 1 ) drawn by Henry Cook

(1642-1725) and engraved by Michiel van der Gucht (1660-1725).This led to a

bitter dispute in which Bidloo attacked

Cowper, complaining to the Royal Society that his plates had been used without per

mission and accusing Cowper of plagia

rism. Cowper maintained, without much

evidence, that the plates had been com

missioned by the eminent Dutch scientist

Jan Swammerdam and that Bidloo had

only acquired them from Swammerdam s

widow. The Royal Society refused to adju dicate in the dispute although they did

question Cowper on the fact that his name

is pasted over Bidloo's on the engraved

title-page. Cowper replied, somewhat

disingenuously, that the title-page had

been ordered by the bookseller, not by himself. The dispute between Bidloo and

Cowper over Cowper's plagiarism is one

of the most famous in medical history.

'Hippocrates Revived' continues at Marsh's Library, Dublin, until 2011.

Muriel McCarthy is Keeper of Marsh's Library, Dublin.

U

U

ALTHOUGH LAIRESSE'S DRAWINGS HAVE BEEN CRITICIZED FOR ANATOMICAL INACCURACIES, THEY ARE REGARDED AS ARTISTICALLY SPLENDID

1 Plate showing the musculature of the back. From Cowper. Anatomy of humane bodies, 1698.

2 Illustration showing the muscles and tendons of the extensor surface of the hand. From Bidloo, Anatomia humant corporis, 1685

U4 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2010

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