Pietro da Cortona and His Unforgettable Drawings 1618 – Healing Comes from Science, Not Chance

Pietro da Cortona was an Italian architect and painter who exemplified the Baroque style of art, often featuring intricate ornamentation and dramatic emotion. The Catholic Church frequently encouraged this artistic movement because it emphasized tradition and spirituality. Pietro studied in Rome and, from the mid-1620s until his death, received commissions for major architectural and pictorial works on which he worked simultaneously.

According to medical historian Jeremy Norman, Pietro's anatomical plates are "among the most exotic and dramatic anatomical studies ever created", yet they are also a profound mystery. For example, we do not know how his Tabulae Anatomicae fits into his celebrated architectural and painting career. Norman writes: “Why were they published 72 years after the artist's death, and perhaps following his execution by 100 years? For whom did Pietro make these works?" Since many of the plates show nerves, it may be assumed that they were originally intended to illustrate a neurology book. The title page of the series of images bears the Latin sayings "An unskilled hand nurtures diseases" and "Healing should be achieved through science, not chance".

Pietro occasionally adds classical buildings and various landscapes in the background. Everywhere are flayed cadavers in different stages of dissection, posed as though still alive. Many of his subjects hold their own framed pictures to reveal additional details. Plate 27 of Pietro's collection is particularly unforgettable. A woman faces the viewer, opening her own uterus with her hands to display her uterus and urogenital system. On the wall to her right, an enlarged view of her open uterus projecting from the wall reveals a tiny baby crouching in her uterus with its hands over its eyes. Is the baby crying, or simply shielding its eyes from the viewer? Is the artist deliberately covering the baby's eyes to prevent it from seeing its mother's dissection?

Description of the article image: Main image: A drawing showing the nerves of the chest and leg region (nerves are yellow). In-article image: Two views of the female urogenital system by Pietro da Cortona (one with a fetus).

Historical figures mentioned in the article: Pietro da Cortona (born Pietro Berrettini; 1596–1669)

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