A history of anatomy theaters in sixteenth-century Padua

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

Volumn 59, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 375-412

  Klestinec, Cynthia ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Anatomy theater; Andreas Vesalius; Dissection; Fabricius of Aquapendente; Renaissance; Sixteenth century Padua; University history

Indexed keywords

ANATOMY; ARTICLE; HISTORY; HUMAN; ITALY; MEDICAL SCHOOL; MEDICAL STUDENT; METHODOLOGY; TEACHING;

ANATOMY; HISTORY, 16TH CENTURY; HUMANS; ITALY; SCHOOLS, MEDICAL; STUDENTS, MEDICAL; TEACHING;

EID: 85047689971     PISSN: 00225045     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/jrh089     Document Type: Review

References (151)

1. Baldassar Heseler, Andreas Vesalius' First Public Anatomy at Bologna, 1540: An Eyewitness Report by Baldassar Heseler, ed. and trans. Ruben Eriksson (Uppsala and Stockholm: Alqvist and Wiksells, 1959), pp. 290-93. Andrew Cunningham cites the event to discuss Vesalius's interest in vivisection in relation to Galen.
2. See Cunningham, The Anatomical Renaissance: The Resurrection of the Anatomical Projects of the Ancients (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1997), pp. 114-15. On the practice of vivisection in the Renaissance,
3. see Roger French, Dissection and Vivisection in the European Renaissance (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), pp. 193-214.
4. Heseler, Andreas Vesalius' First Public Anatomy, pp. 292-93.
5. In the preface, Vesalius writes, "No other ancient author can match the detail of the information that he [Galen] has handed down to posterity concerning treatment by surgery and treatment by regimen and medicants," suggesting that Vesalius's hands-on approach derived from his study of Galen. See Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica (Basel: Oporinus, 1543), p. xlviii. For an extended discussion of Vesalius's Galenic anatomy,
6. see Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance, pp. 88-142.
7. For descriptions of this conflict, see Giuseppe Favaro, "L'insegnamento anatomico di Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente," in AA. VV., Monografie storiche sullo Studio di Padova, Contributo del R. Instituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti alla celebrazione del VII centenario della Università (Venice: Ferrari, 1922), pp. 107-36.
8. See Charles Schmitt, "The Problem of Continuity" and "Science in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries" in The Aristotelian Tradition and Renaissance Universities (London: Variorum Reprints, 1984), Study 1 and 14, respectively, pp. 104-23 and pp. 35-56;
9. Jerome Bylebyl, "Medicine, Philosophy, and Humanism in Renaissance Italy" in Science and the Arts in the Renaissance, ed. John W. Shirley and F. David Hoeniger (Washington, D.C.: Folger Library, 1985), pp. 27-49
10. and "The School of Padua: Humanistic Medicine in the Sixteenth Century" in Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 335-70;
11. and Andrea Carlino, Books of the Body: Anatomical Ritual and Renaissance Learning (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 120-38.
12. The curricular texts included Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, the Physics, and the Topics as well as the De anima and Parva naturalia. See Paul Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), pp. 278-80.
13. Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance,
14. and "Fabricius and the 'Aristotle Project' in Anatomical Teaching and Research at Padua" in The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century, ed. A. Wear, R. K. French, and I. M. Lonie (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 195-222.
15. Different aspects of the focus on Galen and Aristotle have been discussed in the following works: Favaro, "L'insegnamento anatomico";
16. Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance;
17. Anthony Grafton, "The New Science and the Traditions of Humanism" in The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism, ed. Jill Kraye (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 203-23;
18. Ian Maclean, The Renaissance Notion of Woman: A Study in the Fortunes of Scholasticism and Medical Science in European Intellectual Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980);
19. Richard Palmer, "Physicians and Surgeons in Sixteenth-Century Venice," Med. Hist., 1973, 23, 451-60;
20. and Katharine Park, "The Rediscovery of the Clitoris: French Medicine and Tribade, 1570-1620," in The Body in Parts: Fantasies of Corporeality in Early Modern Europe, ed. David Hillman and Carla Mazzio (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 171-94.
21. See Jonathan Sawday, The Body Emblazoned: Dissection and the Human Body in Renaissance Culture (New York: Routledge, 1994),
22. and Michael Neill, Issues of Death: Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
23. For a more historical account, see Giovanna Ferrari, "Public Anatomy Lessons and the Carnival: The Anatomy Theatre of Bologna," Past and Present, 1987, 117, 50-106.
24. Working closely with the archive of the studio in Rome, Andrea Carlino has referred to this aspect as the anthropological and noted two ways that institutions sought to mediate it: first, by controlling the processes for obtaining cadavers and, second, by making new practices continuous with the older practices associated with autopsy. See Carlino, Books of the Body, pp. 92-114. See also Katharine Park's work on medieval traditions of autopsy (forthcoming).
25. Richard Kagan, "Universities in Italy, 1500-1700" in Les universités européennes du xvi au xvii siècle: Histoire sociale des populations étudiantes, 2 vols. (Paris: Editions de l'ecole des hautes études en sciences socials, 1986), I, pp. 153-86;
26. and A History of the University in Europe, ed. Hilde de Ridder-Symoens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), II.
27. For a description of the systems within university colleges, see John Fletcher, "The History of Academic Colleges: Problems and Prospects," in I collegi universitari in Europa tra il xiv e il xviii secolo, ed. Domenico Maffei and Hilde de Ridder-Symoens (Milan: Giuffrè, 1991), pp. 13-22.
28. The first theater was built in 1584, the second in 1594. I will provide details on their architecture, their spectators, and what is known of the performances they housed.
29. Statuta almae universitatis d. artistarum et medicorum patavini gymnasii (Padua: Innocentium Ulmum, 1545), p. 36, Archivio antico università di Padova (AAUP), Padua, Italy. In Venice, the Senate confirmed the practice of anatomical study in the statutes of the medical college in 1507. This confirmation concedes without exception the preexistence of an already superior demonstration, and results further on from the citation in the statute of which codex refers to the exercises of anatomy in Venice as "secundum legum et consuetudinem antiquam." Jerome Bylebyl has noted that "the Venetian statute dates back at least to 1368, when the Venetian government ordered the College of Surgeons to conduct an anatomy at least once a year, which all physicians and surgeons of the city were required to attend, and to 1370, when it ordered the physicians to share equally in the expenses."
30. See Bylebyl, "Interpreting the Fasciculo Anatom Scene," J. Hist. Med. Allied Sci., 1990, 45, 285-316, esp. 311.
31. See also Luigi Nardi and Cesare Musatti, "Dell'anatomia in venezia" in Storia medica veneta (Venice: n.p., 1897), p. 6;
32. and Pietro Tosoni, Della anatomia degli antichi e della scuola anatomica padovana (Padua: Seminaria, 1844), pp. 103-4.
33. On the student nations in Bologna and Padua, see Pearl Kibre, The Nations in the Mediaeval Universities (Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1948), pp. 3-64 and pp. 116-22.
34. Carlino, Books of the Body, pp. 11-12.
35. Statuta almae universitatis d. artistarum et medicorum patavini gymnasii, p. 36.
36. Although Vesalius writes in the introduction to the Fabrica that he was responsible for that consolidation, Jerome Bylebyl has suggested that the professor occupied the role of ostensor or demonstrator not solely that of lector, suggesting that Vesalius's innovation at being able to perform these functions was considerably less innovative. See Bylebyl, "Interpreting the Fasciculo Anatomy Scene."
37. For a dissenting opinion, see Carlino, Books of the Body, pp. 9-20.
38. Heseler, Andreas Vesalius' First Public Anatomy, pp. 54-55.
39. This is known as the accessus, the place where the anatomist stated the topic of his lecture. See Roger French, "A Note on the Anatomical Accessus of the Middle Ages," Med. Hist., 1979, 23, 461-68.
40. Heseler, Andreas Vesalius' First Public Anatomy, pp. 52-55.
41. I b i d.
42. I b i d.
43. It is interesting to note that Vesalius employed a very difficult rhetorical style in the Fabrica, a book that asserts his professional status and academic, classical pedigree. His Epitome and the earlier Six Tables would seem to follow more closely his teaching style.
44. H. Fabricius of Aquapendente, The Embryological Treatises of Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente, ed. Howard B. Adelmann (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 1, 12-22.
45. These were his works that treated generation, respiration, and the functions of the organs of the senses. For a slightly broader treatment of this aspect of Fabricius's work in light of the many Aristotelian texts that were then being taught in Padua, see Cunningham, "Fabricius and the 'Aristotle Project.'"
46. Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance, pp. 174-77.
47. French, Dissection and Vivisection, pp. 231-32.
48. Aquapendente, Embryological Treatises, p. 86.
49. Also quoted by Cunningham, "Fabricius and the 'Aristotle Project,' " pp. 210-11.
50. On wonder and marvels, see Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park, Wonder and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750 (New York: Zone Books, 1998), pp. 109-72.
51. The rhetorical style of Fabricius's published texts is much simpler than that of Vesalius's texts, suggesting that Fabricius's desire to inform a wider audience applied equally to his writings and his teachings.
52. Favaro, "L'insegnamento anatomico," pp. 117-25.
53. I b i d.
54. Although Fabricius promised to give public demonstrations annually, he did not keep that promise. The German nazione recorded Fabricius's equivocations about giving the public demonstration as well as the regularity with which private lessons in anatomy were held. See Acta Nationis Germanicae Artistarum, ed. Antonio Favaro, 2 vols. (Venice: Tipografia emiliana, 1911-12). Hereafter, this compilation will be referred to as Acta, followed by the date.
55. For the ongoing debate between Casserius and Fabricius and for a positive assessment of Casserius's work, see Giuseppe Sterzi, "Guilio Casserio, anatomico e chirurgo (c. 1552-1616)," Nuovo archivio veneto, ser. 3, 1909-1910, 18, 207-78, and 19, 25-111, 238-40.
56. On private anatomies and the university, see Grendler, Universities, pp. 491-95.
57. The administration was also likely motivated to regulate these private anatomies because they had begun to occur more regularly and the issue of obtaining cadavers for them was of greater (anthropological) concern. On this aspect, see Carlino, Books of the Body, pp. 190-94.
58. Acta, 1585: "Cuius initium atque progressus pro more clarissimi Anatomici ut satis fuit gratus ac laudabilis, cum praesertim in viscerum monstrationibus magna uteretur diligentia proferendo iecur, lienem, renes, nec non musculum carne remota, itemque uterum gravidae mulieris una cum placenta, aliaque non iniucunda visu."
59. Ibid.: "In qua sane diligentissime omnes non modo internas corporis partes, sed et extemas, id est musculos atque vasa dissecando, insuperque praecipuas operationes chirurgicas monstrando optime sese gessit, nobisque omnibus satisfecit."
60. Acta, 1585-1586: "Rogamus itaque universos et singulos, ut benevolentiam et labores huius clarissimi viri, propriamque utilitatem considerando, frequentes huic interesse velint."
61. Acta, 1584: "Theatrum et cubiculi ad usum anatomiae agendae ex serenissimi Dominii benignitate de publico aerario eiusdem Dominii costructi sunt, ut in perpetuum preseverent ad ipsum usum destinati."
62. Jacopo Tomasini, Gymnasium Patavinum (Udine: Nicholai Schriatti, 1654), p. 77.
63. See also Antonio Gamba, "Il primo teatro anatomico stabile in Padova non fu quello di Fabrici d'Acquapendente," in Atti e Memorie dell' Accademia Patavina di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, XCIX (III) (Padua: Eredici, 1986-87), pp. 157-61, pt. 3.
64. On the anatomy theater in Venice, see Pompeo Molmenti, La storia di Venezia nella vita privata dalle origini alla caduta della repubblica (Trieste: Edizioni Lint, 1973);
65. G. Rizzi, Il teatro anatomico di S. Giacomo dell'Orio a Venezia (Milan: Lepetit, 1957);
66. C. Pasinetti, "Il ponte dell'anatomia a Venezia," Bolletino dell'istituto storico italiano dell'arte sanitaria, 1926, 6, 8;
67. Bartolomeo Cecchetti, Per la storia della medicina in Venezia (Venice: Naratovich, 1886);
68. and F. Bernardi, Del collegio medico-chirurgico a dell'arte chirurgia in Venezia (Venice: D. Costantini, 1797).
69. For an oration celebrating its opening, see Giacomo Grandi, Orazione per il publico anatomico nell'aprirsi il nuovo teatro di anatomia in Venezia (Venice: Andrea Giuliani, 1671).
70. See M. Saibante, C. Vivarini, and G. Voghera, "Gli studenti dell'università di padova dalla fine del 500 ai nostri giorni (Studio Statistico)," Metron, 1924, 4, 163-223, especially the statistical charts drawn from the university's extant matriculation records.
71. Acta, 1583: "Ut item deinceps sectiones publicae tam humanorum corporum quam brutorum quotannis ab Anatomico ordinario studiosis exhiberentur, quibus sane commodius et sine aliquo impedimento exercendis publicum et perpetuum theatrum in lectorio supremo sumptibus Dominii Veneti extrui secretarius curavit."
72. Giuseppe Pallavicino, letter to Cardinal Morone, 1 January 1545, in Renaissance Letters: Revelations of a World Reborn (New York: New York University Press, 1976), pp. 33-34.
73. Marc-Antoine Muret, letter to Cardinal Sirleto (1584?), in Renaissance Letters, pp. 43-44.
74. Heseler, Andreas Vesalius' First Public Anatomy, p. 221.
75. Favaro, "L'insegnamento anatomico," p. 125.
76. Statuta Almae Universitatis D. Artistarum et Medicorum Patavini Gymnasii (Venice: s.n., 1570), p. xxxiii, De forma servanda in universitate congregata.
77. Ibid., pp. xxxiv-xxxv.
78. Ibid., p. xlv, De sedibus consiliariorum. In the late fifteenth century, Alessandro Benedetti described the hierarchical seating arrangement and the need to prevent disruptions in public dissections, reiterating what were likely common practices and features of the demonstration.
79. See Benedetti, Historia corporis humani sive Anatomica (Venice: Bernardino Guerraldo Vercellensis, 1502), bk. 2, p. i.
80. The passage is translated by L. R. Lind in Pre-Vesalian Anatomy: Biography, Translations, Documents (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1975), p. 83.
81. See also Giovanna Ferrari, L'esperienza del passato: Alessandro Benedetti, filologo e medico umanista (Florence: Olschki, 1996).
82. Acta, 1583: "Ut denique ante administrationes anatomicas publice prius in ea ipsa doctrina iuventuti dilucidiores intelligentiae gratia aliquid praelegeretur, quo paratiores ad anatomicas contemplationes accedere possent."
83. Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance, pp. 191-211,
84. and Carlino, Books of the Body, pp. 126-28.
85. Acta, 1586-87: "Concessae mense Septembris in Universitate feriae iam paulatim in finem decurrebant, ideoque publico programmate ad aedem Cathedralem 2 Novembris cum scholaribus etiam professores a Rectore vocuntur. Ibi cum conventum esset, primo quidem eleganter et copiose de perfectione hominus et intellectus literis atque laboribus adipiscenda disseruit Reverendus quidam Monachus; eum in finem oratione directa, ut et hortaretur eos, quotquot essent sua perfectionis studiosi, nullis parcerent laboribus, potissimum cum oblata esset in amplissimo hoc literarum theatro occasio uberrima, et in laudem eorum digrederetur, qui Serenissimi Dominii munificentia hoc loco in Universitate Medica aluntur, non tantum Reverendi Theologi, verum etiam Medici experientissimi et sapientissimi Philosophi."
86. Acta, 23 January 1584: "initium anatomicae publicae coepit h. 16 matutina, praesentibus aliquot doctoribus medicis, philosopho item Mercenario et metaphysico, ubi in novo illo theatro magnificis Venetis, una cum Rectore et professoribus primae sessiones, Consiliariis vero proximae fuerunt assignatae."
87. Ibid.: "Duravit haec diebus quatordecim; satis diligenter administrata sunt omnia ab Anatomico, nisi quod nonnunquam a tumultuantibus nonnullis scholaribus Italis (ut mos eorum est) interturbatus, multa ipsius cogitationibus exciderint, quae alias maximo cum auditorum fructu discutienda in medium attulisset. Crebrae praeterea obiectiones ibi a professoribus motae et utrinque agitatae fuerunt. Tandem sectione capitis humani et ovis foetae viventis absoluta, finem imposuit."
88. Though Vesalius called for students to interact with the body during public demonstrations, such as the one in Bologna, he also mentions in the Fabrica how he allowed students to practice the techniques of dissection with their own hands.
89. Acta, 1586: "Absolvit interim anatomiam suam Galeotus, quam multis diebus diligenter satis et in excitante eum auditorum frequentia hactenus administraverat. Cumque paulo post sponte Italos nonnullos gratitudinis ergo in theatri anatomici exstructionem contulisse symbola praedicaret, a nostris idem sese sperare haud obscure significabat; potissimum cum sciret nostram prae reliquis Nationem anatomicis ut plurimum delectari studiis, haecque res omnis non in suam sed auditorum suorum utilitatem esset redundatura."
90. I b i d.
91. I b i d.
92. On Galeottus's 1588 demonstration, see the following discussion. For his 1591 demonstration, see Acta, 1591: "Galeotus vero summa diligentia omnium partium cognomen ut quisquam alias omnium iudicio perfectissimam exacte proposuit. Conveniens certe fuisset et gratis auditoribus dignum, Galeoto pro immensa et liberali sua industria si nobis nullus modus reprehensione et invidia carens occurrebat alius, is constituebatur, uti verbis saltem Nationis nostrae nomine ipsi gratiae agerentur, merita ista ipsius perpetuae nostrorum memoriae commendarentur, sique alia de nostra Natione in ipsum proficisci possent gratitudinis munia, ea prompta parataque offerrentur omnia."
93. Acta, 1587-1588: "Circa principium Studii, mandato Clarissimorum huius urbis Rectorum sub poena banni, ne quis in posterum contra consensum Universitatis in scholis alicuius anna erigat, neve quis ante publicum finitam, privatam aliquam anatomiam instituat, fuit interdictum. Ex hoc igitur privilegio quod in fraudem scholarium ad obvelandam solitam suam negligentiam a Reformatoribus fucosis argumentis consecutus fuerat, occasionem capiens publicus Anatomicus, theatrum illud anatomicum Eccellentissimi Domini Pauli Galeoti scholarium impensis extructum destruxit, sed id procul dubio si citius rescivissemus, aggredi non fuisset ausus, quod post malis artibus consecutum privilegium, libidinose exequi non dubitavit."
94. Ibid.: "Quoniam vero tunc temporis Theatrum Anatomicum erat destructum, rumorque spargebatur fore ut hoc anno minime restauraretur, ego ut multorum ex nostris petitioni satisfacerem, nullamque occasionem pro anatomia publica promoverda negligerem, accessi Anatomicum eumque ad publicam sectionem sese ut prepararet sollicitavi. Qui, dummodo theatrum reficeretur, nihil se aliud optare respondit, multis verbis suam in ea administranda diligentiam promittens."
95. I b i d.
96. Cunningham, Anatomical Renaissance, p. 173.
97. The passage is also cited by Giuseppe Favaro, "L'insegnamento anatomico," p. 116.
98. Acta, 1588-1589.
99. Acta, 1588: "His itaque peractis, et publica anatome tandem ad finem perducta, Eccellentissimus vir Dominus Paulus Galeoti ne quid a pristina sua de scholaribus bene merendi voluntate recessisse videretur (quam vis iniuriis publici Anatomici theatrum ipsius esset destructum, ipse variis modis ab eodem fuerit lacessitus et in minus commoda camisprivii tempora reiectus), in officina al Corallo per integras tres septimanas luculentissimam et absolutissimam habuit anatomiam, qua non solum mira facilitate ac pulchra methodo, modum secandi corpora, partium omnium structuram ac earundem actiones et usus evidentissime monstravit, sed etiam venarum, arteriarum et nervorum in universo corpore ductus et propagines, non sine maxima omnium nostrorum iucunditate, sine ullis nostris impensis (quamvis ad eas ut aequum erat a spectatoribus exigendas a nobis hortaretur) nobis ostendit."
100. Galeottus's pedagogical style may be characterized as clear, concise, comprehensive, and inspirational. The transalpine student recorded the merits of Galeottus and the nazione's desire to commend him and advance his status at the university. See Acta, 1588: "cum igitur tanta, non solum in totam Universitatem sed et potissimum in nostram Nationem, huius viri sint merita, isque pro hisce suis laboribus et vigiliis nullum aliud praemium reportarit, sed Nationi praesertim nostrae quam commendatissimus esse cupiat. Quocirca successores nostros etiam atque etiam hortamur et amice rogamus, ut si aliqua gratum nostrum animum huic viro declarandi sese obtulerit occasio, nullis parcant laboribus, sed omnes nervos eo dirigant, quo is non solum contra invidiam et malevolentiam aliorum defendatur, sed etiam, quibus modis id fieri poterit, commendetur, ometur et promoveatur."
101. Acta, 1594: "Et ecce Aquapendens aurearum suarum pollicitationum immemor, memor vero pristinae et iam per annos aliquot obduratae calliditatis, novas offucias quibus varie Universitatem agitabat comminiscitur. Quippe nihil egregie, nihil utiliter, nihil frugifere se spectatoribus ac auditoribus condocefacere aut demonstrare posse saepe revomuit."
102. The architect of the theater remains unknown. Critics have suggested Fabricius as well as Dario Varotari, a friend of Fabricius, who in addition to being a painter was also the architect of Fabricius's villa. See V. Dal Piaz, "L'orto botanico e il teatro anatomico di Padova, indagini e contributi," Quaderni per la storia dell'Università di Padova, 1998, 31, 63-73, 69;
103. M. Rippa Bonati, "Le tradizioni relative al teatro anatomico dell'Universita di Padova con particolare riguardo al progetto attribuito a fra' Paolo Sarpi," Acta Medicae Historiae Patavina, 1988-90, 35-36, 145-68;
104. and G. Cagnoni, I Teatri anatomici dell'Università di Padova, tesi di laurea, IUAV, Venice (unpublished).
105. Antonio Gamba notes that in the earlier tradition, these windows were intended to stay closed and, therefore, fourteen candles were brought in to ensure proper illumination. Candles, perhaps, survived from the ancient tradition of palpating the body during an autopsy. See Gamba, "Il primo teatro anatomico," p. 160;
106. and Joseph Shatzmiller, "The Jurisprudence of the Dead Body, Medical Practition at the Service of Civic and Legal Authorities," in Micrologus: Natura, scienze e sodetà medievali; Il Cadavers, ed. Catherine Chène (Florence: Sismel edizioni del Galluzzo, 1999), VII, 226-27.
107. Jacopo Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, p. xxxi,
108. De anatomia et anatomicus; Gamba, "Il primo teatro anatomico," p. 158 and p. 160, n. 15;
109. M. Rippa Bonati, "Le tradizioni relative al teatro anatomico dell'Universitá di Padova con particolare riguardo al progetto attributo a fra' Paolo Sarpi," Acta Med. Hist. Patavina, 1988-90, 35-36, 145-68.
110. Acta, 1595: "Verum res quorsum evaderet animadvertentes, die qviadam convocatis Senioribus ipsum accessimus atque familiariter compellamus, rogantes ut promissis demum suis satisfaceret; theatrum enim iam splendide satis extructum esse, multos quoque sui nominis celebritate longinquis etiam peregrinationibus huc advolasse, omnium oculos in ipsum solum esse coniectos, perfectam atque absolutam avide desiderantes eius anatomiam; ostenderet itaque iam se praeceptorem fidelissimum, iam Nationi nostrae summum amicum, cuius vel laudes omni aeviternitate post nos posteri celebrerent. Ille autem laudum mentione facta subridens bonus senex, absolutissimam vobis, inquit, dabo; sed volo ut sit libera, omnes ut videant absolutissimam; et oportet ut Universitas Venetiis scribat ut ex pecuniis Studii sumtus habeat, et ego etiam intercedam meis literis; et concede ut eligatis secundum statuta Massarios quibus singulis septimanis dabo florenos quatuor." On free admission,
111. see also Antonio Riccoboni, De gymnasio patavino (Padua: Apud Franciscum Bolzetam, 1598), p. xviii, De ingressu in theatrum ad spectandam anatomen et honore anatomici.
112. Acta, 1595: "Confluxerat eo tota quasi civitas, et extremae etiam farinae homines tanquam ad forum cupedinis: subsellia occuparunt hebraei, sedentarii magistri, sartores, calceolarii, solearii, carnarii, salsamentarii et his inferiores baiuti et corbuli illi, adeo ut in dubium relinqueres plus ne collegii scholares anatomici sectioni ac dexteritati attenderent, an haintia huiusmodo homuncionum ora aspicerent."
113. On the hierarchy of the nobility, cittadini, and popolani, see Brian Pullan, Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice: The Social Institutions of a Catholic State, to 1620 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).
114. On the ways that seventeenth-century Venice turned inward, losing much of her cosmopolitan perspective, see Peter Burke, "Early Modern Venice as a Center of Information and Communication," in Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797, ed. John Martin and Dennis Romano (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), pp. 389-419. For a discussion of the economic, political, and social Eictors that contributed to this change,
115. see Peter Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Elites (Cambridge, Mass.: Polity Press, 1984).
116. See M. Saibante, C. Vivarni, and G. Voghera, "Gli studenti dell'università di padova," charts.
117. The increasingly close relationship between the university and the state forms something of a leitmotif in the history of the university. See Kagan, "Universities in Italy, 1500-1700";
118. and Brendan Dooley, "Social Control and the Italian Universities: From Renaissance to Illuminismo," J. Modern Hist., 1989, 61, 205-39.
119. 24 September 1596, Senato Terra Registro, 66, pp. 113-14, Archivio di Stato di Venezia (Venice, Italy).
120. I b i d.
121. Acta, 1595-96: "Itaque Excellentissimus Iulius Placentinus [Iulius Casserius da Piacenza] ad hoc munus rogatus, etsi initio praxi et privatis aliis se excusavit, postmodo tamen foetu ipsi a nobis oblato, in nostratium gratiam rem aggreditur, atque sectionem cum circa vasa umbilicia, turn etiam quo ad foetus generationem attinet felicissimo successu auspicatur. Quo absoluto, unanimi omnium adsensu, duo ipsi cadavera, virile ac femineum procuratum fuit, in quibus non solum quoque perfectam et absolutam anatomen administravit, sed etiam varias operationes chirurgicas summa laude et studio accuratissime demonstrabat."
122. Richard Kagan notes that university in Padua established "extraordinary" chairs in scientific subjects in an effort to broaden the curriculum, but its anatomy theaters preceded such developments and the subsequent decline in student enrollment. See Kagan, "Universities in Italy, 1500-1700," p. 163.
123. For an overview of education in Renaissance Venice, see Sandro de Bernardin, "La politica culturale della repubblica di venezia e 1'università di padova nel xvii secolo," Studi veneziani, 1974, 16, 443-502.
124. For bibliographical data and recent contributions to the history of universities, see Lucia Rossetti, ed., Bibliografia dell'università di padova (Padua: Antenore, 1968);
125. Anna Pia Bidolli, "Convegno di studi: 'La storia delle università italiane archivi, fonti, indirizzi di ricerca,' " Rassegna Archiv. Stato (Italy), 1995, 1, 58-63;
126. Peter Denley, "Publications on University History since 1977: A Continuing Bibliography," History of Universities, 1997-99, 15, 341-82;
127. and Paul Grendler, "New Scholarship on Renaissance Universities" (review essay), Renaissance Q., 2000, 53, 1174-82.
128. Kagan, "Universities in Italy, 1500-1700," p. 176.
129. Ferrari, "Public Anatomy Lessons."
130. Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, p. xxxi, De anatomia et anatomicus.
131. For a brief account of the historiography of the "myth of Venice" with accompanying bibliography, see Edward Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), pp. 13-33.
132. Richard Kagan discusses the drop in matriculation, the absence of students on campus due to their attendance at the courses of private lettori as well as Jesuit schools, and the university's responses. See Kagan, "Universities in Italy, 1500-1700," pp. 173-75.
133. Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, p. xxxi, De anatomia et anatomicus.
134. I b i d.
135. I b i d.
136. I b i d.
137. On the use of processions to instantiate symbolic order in Venice, see Edward Muir, Civic Ritual, pp. 185-211.
138. Heseler, Andrew Vesalius' First Public Anatomy, p. 85.
139. Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, p. 80. On the nature of pageantry in Venetian civic rituals arid the development of their political force,
140. see Muir, Civic Ritual, pp. 223-30;
141. on music, see Ellen Rosand, "Music and the Myth of Venice," Renaissance Q., 1977, 30, 511-37.
142. Acta, 1597: "A.d. 12 Xbris ad exhilarandos anatomiae spectatores recreandosque ex tristi aspectu animos, ex vetusta consuetudine (quae tarnen superioribus aliquot annis proximis interrupta) fidicines ab Anatomistis conducti et in Theatrum reducti fuere, procurante hanc rem sedulo D. Placotomo; aderantque musici isti etiam sequentibus diebus quamplurimis, sumtus certe qui illis irrogantur minime poenitendi, si quidem dum ipsis attendunt et auscultant spectatores, ab omni tumultu et calcitratione supersedere soient, cuius tranquillitatis gratia Theatrum anatomicum aliquot annos diutius inconcussum durare poterit."
143. The passage is also cited by Antonio Gamba, "Il primo teatro anatomico," p. 160.
144. Public festivals associated with Bacchus and produced during the Carnival season were known to incorporate music, as were performances of tragedies and comedies. At the court of Ferrara, for example, the play was only one part of the theatrical display. It was often preceded by a procession of people in costume; between acts and at the end of each play, there were mimed or danced interludes accompanied by music. In a now-famous letter of 1502, Isabella d'Este admitted that, during one performance at the court of Ferrara, the interludes had compensated for the play, which she had found tedious and boring. On music in dramatic performance, see Cesare Molinari, Theater through the Ages (London: Cassell, 1975);
145. and Phyllis Hartnoll, ed., The Oxford Companion to the Theater (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951), p. 485.
146. Acta, 8 January 1600: "Ingruentibus iam magnis frigoribus, coeloque iam nives, pruinas, glaciesque demittente, Excellentissimus Aquapends absoluta prius absolutissima in publico auditorio tam humanorum quam ceterorum animalium, ut et volucrium seu pennatorium ossium ostensione, postea quam tria extarent corpora seu subiecta, duo virilia, muliebre unum, ad sectioriem solemni pompa cum fidicinibus ab Anatomisticis conductis accessit, eamque aliquot dierum spacio, frequenti sempre auditorum corona admodum evidenter administravit, et tandem post luculentam oculi dissectionem sectioni finem imposuit."
147. R. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy (London: Everyman's Library, 1964), 1, 27.
148. Peter Gay writes, "Style, we are told, is the dress of thought and its sinews, its crowning glory and its expressive voice. There appear to be almost as many uses for style as there are users."
149. See Gay, Style in History (New York: Basic Books, 1974), p. 3.
150. Though a full discussion of the intersections between the academic and the popular traditions of these secrets is beyond the scope of this article, I direct readers to these works. For the historical development of the secrets of nature, see Daston and Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature;
151. and, on the rise of the secrets tradition in the print culture of the sixteenth arid seventeenth centuries, see William Eamon, Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 194-266.