Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, 1696 - 1770, German anatomist

Images of the human body from the mid-1700's by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, 1696 - 1770, a German anatomist. From the collection of Richard Breiman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Siegfried_A...

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11/25/25

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697–1770) was a German-born Dutch anatomist best known for his highly accurate and artistically elaborate anatomical atlases produced while a professor at Leiden University. His work helped standardize anatomical illustration in the 18th century and influenced both medical education and scientific art. Tell me about Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, his education, his major contributions, and his career. [1] [2] [3] 

Education and training 
Albinus began studying at Leiden University around 1709, when he was about 12 years old, after his father accepted a chair of medicine there. [2] [4] At Leiden he studied under prominent physicians and anatomists such as Herman Boerhaave, Govard (Govert) Bidloo, and Johann Jacob Rau, gaining a strong grounding in anatomy, surgery, and medicine. [3] [2] After completing his studies in Leiden, he spent about a year in Paris (from 1718) studying anatomy and botany under figures including Jacob Winslow and Sébastien Vaillant, and he also had contact with Frederik Ruysch, further refining his anatomical skills. [2] [3] 

Academic and professional career
In 1719, on Boerhaave’s recommendation, Albinus was recalled from Paris to Leiden as a lecturer in anatomy and surgery; in 1721 he succeeded his father as professor of anatomy and surgery at Leiden University. [3] [2] His lectures attracted both students and practicing physicians, making him one of the most sought‑after anatomy teachers in Europe during the mid‑18th century. [1] [3] In 1745 he was appointed professor of the practice of medicine at Leiden, while his brother Frederik Bernhard took over the anatomical chair; Albinus served twice as rector of the university before his death in Leiden in 1770. [5] [2] 

Major scientific contributions 
Albinus is most famous for “Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani” (1747), a large format anatomical atlas with copperplate engravings by Jan Wandelaar, notable for combining artistic beauty with unprecedented anatomical precision. [1] [2] [3] He and Wandelaar used methods such as grid nets placed between the specimen and the artist to improve proportional accuracy, and multiple bodies were used to construct an idealized “homo perfectus” model rather than relying on a single cadaver. [2] [3] ⁂ Beyond the atlas, Albinus wrote and edited important anatomical and medical works, including editions of Vesalius’s and Harvey’s writings, helping to transmit and clarify classical anatomy and physiology for 18th‑century physicians. [6] [2] 

Influence and legacy 
Albinus’s atlases set a new standard for anatomical illustration, influencing medical textbooks and teaching for generations and making detailed anatomy more accessible to students and practitioners. [6] [3] [1] His integration of rigorous measurement with idealized representation shaped later ideas about “normal” human anatomy and the relationship between art and science in medical imagery. [7] [2] Through his students, such as Gerard van Swieten, and his family of anatomists, his approach to anatomy spread widely in European medical schools in the 18th century. [5] [2] 

Sources. 

--G. Ly 

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