A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his left forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving by Benard, 1779, after a woodcut, 1543.

[Geneva] : [Pellet], [1779]

1 print : engraving ; platemark 22.5 x 16.6 cm

Anatomie, le squelette vû par devant. ; Benard direx. Bears plate no. : I

J.B. de C.M. Saunders and C.D. O'Malley, The illustrations from the works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, Cleveland and New York 1950, p. 84, pl. 21

Wellcome Collection 36145i

Reverses the original woodcut published as the first skeleton plate to Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, published in Basel in 1543. The position of the skull has been altered so that it no longer is tilted back but looks down slightly to its right. The mountain range of the Vesalian plate has been abandoned in favour of a gentler landscape with a cross of wood marking a grave at the lower left