Anatomical Illustration vs Natural History Plate

解剖図の様式 / 博物図譜

Anatomical Illustration comes from Diagrammatic Expression and Natural History Plate from Natural History Illustration. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Anatomical Illustration

Anatomical Illustration — ヴェサリウス『ファブリカ』1543 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainAnatomical Illustration — 『ファブリカ』の筋肉人体（CC BY 4.0）Anatomical Illustration — ジャック・ゴーティエ・ダゴティ 解剖図 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The style Vesalius's Fabrica established: muscled bodies posing in landscapes. Scientific accuracy cohabiting with theatrical staging governed the grammar of anatomical plates for centuries.

Natural History Plate

Natural History Plate — ヘッケル『生物の驚異的な形』クラゲ — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNatural History Plate — 同 イソギンチャク — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNatural History Plate — ジョン・ジェームズ・オーデュボン《Cedar Bird》『アメリカの鳥類』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The naturalist's plates showing unknown life as both taxonomy and wonder. The symmetrical compositions of Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur became the junction where science plates flowed into Art Nouveau's language of form.

Anatomical IllustrationNatural History Plate
Era1543–18th–19th century
FamilyDiagrammatic ExpressionNatural History Illustration
KindStyleStyle
CuesPosing anatomical figures / Landscape backgrounds / Numbers and leader lines / Woodcut and copperplate precisionSymmetrical specimen layouts / Taxonomic completeness / Precision beside ornament / Systematic plate numbering
Best used forTeaching material that must show structure and spatial relation at once · Plates for books and shows about the body that need theatrical chargePlates presenting the sheer number of specimens or varieties as wonder · Gathering forms from specimens when they will be reused as ornament
TypeOnly small numbers on the figure, names moved to a key outsidePlate number in a corner, species names in a key clear of the image
CompositionThe figure standing in landscape, its pose justified by gaze and weightSeveral specimens arranged symmetrically, the largest at the center
MaterialVolume built from hatching, tone made by crossing line densityChromolithography or hand-colored copperplate, plain ground, no shadow
CautionTwisting the pose too far for drama foreshortens the muscle paths, and the plate stops being accurate enough to teach from.Enjoying the parade of strange forms first breaks the scale and the taxonomic order, and the plate becomes useless as a record.

Put these two together

Diagrammatic Expression ／ Natural History Illustration

IndexStyle