Portrait of Ambriose Pare
1 2017-07-27T17:52:46+00:00 Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia c90233dd07144836ce2dedca73e59366be819522 3 1 Title provided by cataloger. plain 2017-07-27T17:52:46+00:00 www.cppdigitallibrary.org Original image in: Paré, Ambroise, 1510?-1590. Les oeuvres d’Ambroise Paré., leaf 10v. ZEa 9f (Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia) 2015-11-10T21:04:31+00:00 1614 Book Illustrations Physicians Portraits Vallee Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia c90233dd07144836ce2dedca73e59366be819522This page is referenced by:
- 1 2017-06-20T20:34:42+00:00 Wood Cuts 16 In the early modern period (1500-1750) images in texts were created by using woodcuts. An artist would create the image by carving it into a block of wood. The surfaces left after carving then appeared black when rolled with ink and pressed to the page. Monsters-- and wonders of all sorts-- were popular subjects of these texts, especially early medical texts. plain 2017-09-12T14:14:34+00:00 In the early modern period (1500-1750) images in texts were created by using woodcuts. An artist would create the image by carving it into a block of wood. The surfaces left after carving then appeared black when rolled with ink and pressed to the page. Monsters-- and wonders of all sorts-- were popular subjects of these texts, especially early medical texts. These books, like On Monsters and Marvels by Ambroise Paré (1510?-1590), told background stories about the “monster” and provided an image to go with the story. Oftentimes, the physician had not actually seen the monster himself but only heard about it through others. This is why many of these woodcuts look so fantastical. Toad heads on human bodies, a baby with angel wings and a single eye, or people who appear as patchworks of various animal parts; these images indeed look strange and wondrous. Perhaps these strange images are a result of people’s descriptions when recounting stories of travel, or perhaps they are meant to be metaphorical.