Art Institute of Chicago
Cranial Dissection, plate five from Myologie complete
Jacques Fabien Gautier D'Agoty
- Date
- 1748
- Medium
- Color mezzotint, with touches of engraving on cream laid paper, varnished
- Culture
- France
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
In the dedication of his book, to King Louis XV, Gautier D’Agoty justified his subject matter in true Enlightenment form by pointing out that the head most differentiates men from animals and is “the Temple of Wisdom, and Sanctuary of Virtue.” Gautier offered his “printed paintings” to the king as a substitute for observing the dissected specimens in person: “YOUR MAJESTY would not deign to cast his eyes on these marvels from too close and affecting a distance. I present them to you faithfully printed after nature. My burin will save you the horror that nature itself would inspire in you.”
The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Linked open data
Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.
- Object type
- AAT300041273
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.
Neck and Face Muscles, plate three from Myologie complete
Art Institute of Chicago
Posterior View of Muscle Man, plate nine from Myologie complete
Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait of Louis XV
Art Institute of Chicago
An Exaggerated Rejuvenation. “Just two or three sessions with me, Monsieur, and anyone who still claims to find a grey hair on you, is a malicious person.” As a matter of fact, since the end of the second session, Monsieur's head looks as shiny as that of a newborn baby, plate 52 from Les Beaux Jours De La Vie
Art Institute of Chicago
Hercules Tamed By Love. This mischievous God in his triumphant ways subjects all, kings, shepherds, heroes and gays, Alcide interrupts his dreaded exploits and binds him while Omphale overjoys. (Gallant poetry by Monsieur Sauzet), plate 25 from Histoire Ancienne
Art Institute of Chicago
La Pervenche de Java (The Perwinkle of Java, from the Collection of Usual, Curious, and Foreign Plants)
Art Institute of Chicago
Louis XIV
Art Institute of Chicago
The Education of Achilles
Getty Museum
On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books
Harvard Art Museums
Jupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and Baucis
Minneapolis Institute of Art
When the Devil Grew Old He Became a Hermit, plate 476
Art Institute of Chicago
The Cave of Despair
Art Institute of Chicago