Nude male with an apple in his left hand, and a modest female (1545)
Ten ways of seeing
- slightly upright 1.25 : 1
First Look
论画以形似，见与儿童邻。
—— 宋·苏轼《书鄢陵王主簿所画折枝》
To judge painting by likeness alone is the view of a child.
Slightly taller than wide; the eye lands above centre. Then step in close: watch where colour meets line, and whether the line ever breaks. Third, find the darkest small patch: the whole tonal order is measured from there.
Name and Thing
No reliable binomial survives, so the printed title must serve. Neither name nor binomial survives: the printed title must do.
Form and Colour
Flowering trees and shrubs put out branches first; blossoms open before or with the leaves, usually five thin, translucent petals around a cluster of fine stamens.No colour group is recorded. A single plant, laid out with nothing hidden.
Composition
Slightly taller than wide, the plant set a little above centre. No details are appended: a plate for looking, not for keying out. Cover the margins with your thumb and the plate suffocates; uncover them and the flower breathes again.
Line and Colour
Before 1700 most botanical figures came from woodcut: thick, hard lines in relief, colour brushed on afterwards. Decide first whether it was printed or painted; only then discuss whether it is beautiful. If you mean to copy it: take its skeleton, its margins and the order of its colours; the burin's hatching is the language of copper — suggest it with pencil density, do not imitate it stroke for stroke.
Poetic Resonance
桃之夭夭，灼灼其华。
—— 《诗经·周南·桃夭》
The peach tree, young and graceful, its blossoms blazing bright.
The poem gives the mood first and the picture supplies the form; set the line beside the plate and the corolla becomes its resting point.
Symbolism
Plum is solitude, peach is marriage, apricot is spring itself, crabapple is a fragile fate; the hibiscus, opening at dawn and falling at dusk, is impermanence. In a flora it is a species first and a symbol second; the order is worth keeping.
Season and Place
Mid spring: plum first, then peach and apricot, cherry last — the season keeps its order. cherry and crabapple went east to Japan and west to Europe. The year 1545 on the plate is that of publication, not of flowering — the gathering came a year or two earlier. The bud and the ripe fruit on one branch tell the season; the name in the title often tells the journey.
The Book and the Hand
“Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, ære exarata” carries only Thomas Geminus's name. From drawing to plate the sheet passed through several hands — the engraver aimed at accuracy, the colourist at speed, and between them lies each plate's unevenness.
What to Take Away
Appreciation is not knowledge but habit — one more look each time. The flower of that year is dust, yet its image on paper has outlived every living cousin.
![Prima ossium tabula [Human skeleton leaning on a spade] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/003-thumb.webp)
![Secunda ossium tabula [Human skeleton inspecting a skull and in deep thinking] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/005-thumb.webp)
![Tertia ossium tabula [Skeleton in aiming position] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/006-thumb.webp)
![Prima musculorum tabula. [Shows human muscles] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/007-thumb.webp)
![Secunda musculorum tabula. [Shows muscles in a walking position] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/008-thumb.webp)
![Tertia musculorum tabula. [Showing the figure with open hands] (1545)](/upload/nat/compendiosa-totius-anatomie-delineatio-aere-exarata/009-thumb.webp)