Bernardino Genga (1620–1690) was a scholar of Classical medical texts, editing several works of
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of ...
. He also had a great interest in the preparation of anatomical specimens as well as the
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
of ancient
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman sculpture
The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At ...
. These interests led to his work at the
French Academy in Rome
The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy.
History
The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...
, where he taught anatomy to artists.
Biography
Bernardino Genga was born in
Mondolfo
Mondolfo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about northwest of Ancona and about southeast of Pesaro, on the Adriatic Sea.
Mondolfo borders the following municipalities: ...
in the
Duchy of Urbino
The Duchy of Urbino was an independent duchy in early modern central Italy, corresponding to the northern half of the modern region of Marche. It was directly annexed by the Papal States in 1625.
It was bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the east ...
and died in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where he practiced surgery in the Hospital of
Santo Spirito in Sassia
Church of the Holy Spirit in the Saxon District (Italian: ''La chiesa di Santo Spirito in Sassia'') is a 12th-century titular church in Rome, Italy. It is in '' Borgo Santo Spirito'', a street which got its name from the church, placed in the sou ...
and
San Giacomo degli Incurabili
The hospital of ''San Giacomo in Augusta'' (Saint James in Augusta), also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili (Saint James of the Incurables) was a historic hospital located in Rome.
History
The Hospital was built for the first time in 1349 by ...
. An authoritative
anatomist
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
and surgeon in Rome, Genga stressed the importance of solid anatomical knowledge for the surgeon.
In 1672, he published his noted ''Anatomia Chirurgica'', a textbook for surgeons which went through a number of editions. This work has been called the “first book devoted entirely to surgical anatomy” (Garrison-Morton 384) and remained a widely used manual for at least fifty years. In the tract appended to this work, Genga showed himself to be one of the first Italians to accept
Harvey
Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit
* Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...
's theory on the
circulation of the blood
The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
. But Genga also maintained that the discovery was made by
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
and
Cesalpino
Andrea Cesalpino ( Latinized as Andreas Cæsalpinus) (6 June 1524 – 23 February 1603) was a Florentine physician, philosopher and botanist.
In his works he classified plants according to their fruits and seeds, rather than alphabetically ...
before Harvey.
A year after his death was published the beautiful ''Anatomia per Uso et Intelligenza del Disegno'', which consisted of renderings of his anatomical preparations by the artist
Charles Errard
Charles Errard the Younger (; 1606–25 May 1689) was a French painter, architect and engraver, co-founder and later director of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. In 1666 Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert sent him to fo ...
(1606–1689), director of the Accademia, and most likely engraved by François Andriot (died 1704). Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), the Papal physician, edited the work and provided much of the commentary.
''Anatomia per Uso et Intelligenza del Disegno'' consists of 59 copperplate engravings of text and illustrations printed on one side only. After the engraved title is a plate with allegorical emblems of death. Of the illustrated plates, the first 23 deal with
osteology
Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...
and myology drawn from Genga's anatomical preparations. The remainder consists of representations of antique statues viewed from different angles, including the
Farnese Hercules
The ''Farnese Hercules'' ( it, Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; the name is Greek but he may have worked in Rome. Like ...
, the
Laocoön
Laocoön (; grc, , Laokóōn, , gen.: ), is a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. Laocoon was a Trojan priest. He and his two young sons were attacked by giant serpents, sent by the gods. The story of Laocoön has been the s ...
(without his sons), the
Borghese Gladiator
The ''Borghese Gladiator'' is a Hellenistic life-size marble sculpture portraying a swordsman, created at Ephesus about 100 BC, now on display at the Louvre.
Sculptor
The sculpture is signed on the pedestal by Agasias, son of Dositheus, who i ...
, the
Borghese Faun
The House of Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century and held offices under the ''commune''. During the 16th century, ...
, the
Venus de Medici
The Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a tall Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a 1st-century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of t ...
, the
Boy with Thorn
''Boy with Thorn'', also called ''Fedele'' (Fedelino) or ''Spinario'', is a Greco-Roman Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a boy withdrawing a thorn from the sole of his foot, now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome. There is a Roman marble ver ...
, and the Amazon of the House of Cesi. A variant of this work lacks the final three images and contains the words "libro primo" on the engraved title, though there was never a libro "secundo" published.
An English translation of the work appeared in London in 1723 under the title, ''Anatomy Improv'd''.''Anatomy Improv’d and Illustrated with Regard to the Uses Thereof in Designing: Not Only Laid Down from an Examen of the Bones and Muscles of the Human Body, but Also Demonstrated and Exemplified from the Most Celebrated Antique Statues in Rome''. London: John Senex, 1723. The plates were re-engraved by
Michael Vandergucht
Michael Vandergucht or Michiel van der Gucht (c. 1660 – 16 October 1725) was a Flemish engraver and painter who worked for most of his career in England.Bernardino Genga Biography Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
References
*Amati, G. ''Bibliografia Romana: notizie della vita e delle opere degli scrittori Romani dal secolo XI fino ai nostri giorni.'' (Roma: Tipografia Eredi Botta, 1880). pp. 131–132.
*Choulant, L. ''History and bibliography of anatomic illustration.'' Trans. and annotated by Mortimer Frank. (New York: Hafner, 1962). pp. 254–255.
*''Morton's Medical Bibliography (Garrison and Morton).'' Ed. By Jeremy Norman. Fifth ed. Aldershot, Hants, England : Scolar Press; Brookfield, Vt., USA : Gower Pub. Co., 1991. No. 386.