Anatomical Figure Holding Flayed Skin

A black-and-white print depicts an flayed human male with visible musculature, standing on a small mound of earth. The figure holds its own skin—draped like a heavy cloak—by the hair of the head with its right arm extended to the side; the face of the skin retains a solemn, bearded expression. The figure's muscles are meticulously labeled with alphabetical and numerical characters for anatomical reference, and it holds a thin-bladed scalpel in its lowered left hand. The background is neutral, focusing the viewer entirely on the anatomical display.

This image is a plate from Caspar Bauhin's 'Theatrum Anatomicum', a highly influential 17th-century anatomical treatise. It exemplifies the transition between Renaissance anatomical art, which often posed figures in dramatic 'living' attitudes, and the more sterile, systematic approaches of early modern science.