[The influence of anatomical treaties on the works of Wendel Dietterlin and his successors in the second half of the 16th century].

In 1543 in Basel, Johannes Oporinus published one of the most famous treatises in the history of anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius. The book was an immediate success all over Europe, especially in the Upper Rhine region. In Strasbourg, Walter Ryff (Gualterius Rivius) was responsible for an early copy; others followed, as for example Felix Platter in Basel in 1581. One of the novelties of all these books consisted in the fact that for the first time the human body was dissected into its smallest units. Anatomical elements such as the opened thorax, the vertebral column, the kidney sectionned, or the laryngeal cartilages apparently stimulated an artist of the late 16th century in the same geographical region: Wendel Dietterlin (c.1550-1599) who principally worked in Strasbourg and introduced these elements into his treatise on architecture as architectural ornaments. This seems to be the first instance of a transfer of motifs from human anatomy to architecture. From this time on, the transfer reappeared in some works until William Hogarth's era in the 18th century.