Theatrical anatomy: Duverney in Paris, 1670-1720

Endeavour. 2009 Mar;33(1):7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2009.01.008. Epub 2009 Feb 23.

Abstract

During the reign of Louis XIV, anatomical demonstrations became a public attraction in Paris. At the Jardin du Roi, the star performer was Joseph-Guichard Duverney, who attracted hundreds to his anatomy lectures. Simultaneously, Duverney also instructed the Dauphin and his courtiers, lectured to medical students at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital (making off with corpses in the process) and dissected before the Paris Academy of Sciences. Duverney's dramatic, rhetorical and anatomical skills made him the best-known man of science in Louis XIV's Paris.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Anatomy / history*
  • Drama / history*
  • History, 17th Century
  • History, 18th Century
  • Medicine in the Arts*
  • Paris

Personal name as subject

  • Joseph-Guichard Duverney