Some of the most beautiful drawings ever produced of human
anatomy were published in 1543, in a classic book by Andreas Vesal-
ius (1514-1564), a physician who lived and taught in Italy. His book
was called De Humani Corporis Fabrica, which translates as On the
Fabric of the Human Body, and was spectacularly illustrated by one or
more professional artists who had carefully witnessed Vesalius’s dis-
sections of human bodies.
Cranial nervesFigure 2.8. Human brain: ventral (left) and medial (right) views.