An anatomist meditates on the corpse of a beautiful young woman, laid out on a table next to his desk

An anatomist meditates on the corpse of a beautiful young woman, laid out on a table next to his desk

"A print after a painting by Gabriel von Max of 1869, painted in Munich and subsequently in the Neue Pinakothek/Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich. An anatomist meditates, chin in hand, the body of a young, beautiful woman, pulling back the cloth that covers her body in order to gaze upon her. On the desk beside him are open books, a lamp, and human and animal skulls. As well as being tools of study they function as symbols of "vanitas", as does the moth that has alighted next to the cadaver. For similar scenes of meditation on female beauty and apparent life in death, see this catalogue, nos 25532i and 25570i"

Lithograph by F. Hanfstaengl after G. C. von Max, 1869.
1 print : lithograph ; image 9.9 x 13.2 cm


The name of the artist appears twice. His signature is at the lower right of the image and his name is printed at the lower left of the sheet, below the image

Lettering
The anatomist ; G. Max 1869 ; Gabriel Max pinx. ; Gravure Hanfstaengl

Wellcome
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ur55wd86

G. Wolf-Heidegger and A. M. Cetto, Die anatomische sektion in bildlicher Darstellung, Basel and New York 1967, no. 88, pp. 182-183