
Art, science, misogyny, or all three? Whatever the verdict, there is something undeniably shocking and ghoulish about the "Flayed Angel" -- one of many plates found in Jacques Fabian Gautier d'Agoty's lavishly illustrated
Suite de l'Essai d'anatomie en tableaux imprimés (Paris: Gautier, 1745). The juxtaposition of the detailed anatomical dissection and the corpse's almost coquettish glance over the shoulder leaves the viewer with a sense of unease and disquiet. Knowing that the corpse was almost certainly that of a convicted felon whose body was sold after death adds to the macabre nature of the illustration.
Ask for
Rare Book QM 535 .G377