The Anatomy Theatre
The linework — every burin stroke holds at full size

The Fabrica

The Contemplating Skeleton

A skeleton, lost in thought before a tomb.

Work
from De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Maker
Andreas Vesalius
Date
1543
Held by
Published Basel, 1543 · Wellcome Collection
Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt

Format

The full-resolution scan, colour-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.

Size

$29.00

The story

One of the most famous images in the history of medicine: a skeleton leaning on a tomb, chin on hand, contemplating a skull — anatomy and philosophy in a single figure. *Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt*, reads the tomb: genius lives on; the rest belongs to death. Vesalius gave his skeleton the posture of a scholar and let it grieve, and in doing so made the anatomical plate a place where science could think about what it was looking at. Science as memento mori.

See it on your wall

The plate, in the room it was made for

The Contemplating Skeleton, printed large and framed — in the consulting room, the study, the library. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.

The Contemplating Skeleton framed on the wall
The Contemplating Skeleton framed on the wall
The Contemplating Skeleton framed on the wall
The Contemplating Skeleton framed on the wall

About this reproduction

  • A reproduction of from De Humani Corporis Fabrica — Andreas Vesalius, 1543 — from the copy held by Published Basel, 1543 · Wellcome Collection. The source. The work is centuries out of copyright and in the public domain.
  • Printed faithful to that source scan. We do not re-colour it, complete it, or interpret it; the plate you receive is the plate as it survives.
  • Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm. Framed editions sit in a box frame under acrylic, with no mount.
  • Colour-managed to the source; the tone of the paper and the ink is the engraver’s, not ours.
  • Ships in 5–10 business days.
  • If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.

Why our plates cost more than a poster: a poster is a mass run on wood-pulp stock, colour-corrected to whatever flattered the press that day. This is one sheet, pulled for you, at a size where the engraver’s hand is visible — the linework, the tonal work, the lettering — on a matte sheet that shows every line without glare.

From the same hand

The Muscle Man — from De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Andreas Vesalius, 1543

Andreas Vesalius · 1543

The Muscle Man

The image that founded modern anatomy.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica · 1543
The Man Who Holds His Own Skin — from Historia de la Composición del Cuerpo Humano, Juan Valverde de Amusco, 1556

Juan Valverde de Amusco · 1556

The Man Who Holds His Own Skin

A figure carrying his own flayed hide.

Historia de la Composición del Cuerpo Humano · 1556