Eustachius: Tabulae Anatomicae

The fact that the Italian Renaissance physician Bartolomeo Eustachius (c. 1500/1510–1574) was a truly gifted and highly precise anatomist is demonstrated not only by his well-known treatise on teeth, the Libellus de Dentibus, but above all by his Tabulae Anatomicae, which was published long after his death. Similar to the famous Andreas Vesalius, Eustachius worked with a talented engraver, Pietro Matteo Pini, during his lifetime to create anatomical representations of the human body that visualized the current state of knowledge as accurately as possible. In some details, he was even ahead of his colleague Vesalius: for example, his own research gave him more precise knowledge of the anatomy of the middle ear and the teeth. Based on this outstanding expertise, Pini created a total of 47 precise and highly artistic copperplate engravings, of which Eustachius published only eight during his lifetime. The rest were lost after his death, along with his accompanying explanations, until they were rediscovered in 1711 by the papal physician Giovanni Maria Lancisi at the home of one of Pini's descendants. In 1714, Lancisi finally published the duo's oeuvre under the title Tabulae Anatomicae.