De humani corporis fabrica (Of the Structure of the Human Body)

Before Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica, the research and publications of Greek physician and philosopher Galen were widely accepted and uncontested. Galen's findings were based on dissecting Barbary apes due to the restrictions against human dissection in Rome. Vesalius, however, was granted permission by a Padua judge to perform dissections on the cadavers of executed criminals, which enabled him to debunk some of Galen's previous claims.

The illustrations in this series, created by artists from the workshop of Titian, include flayed men and skeletons in melodramatic and active poses, as if they were still alive.