It is our great debt to Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery (1797-1849) for his Traité complet de l anatomie de l homme, which has not only been an important milestone in medical history, but remains one of the treaties illustrated anatomical wider and best ever published. Bourgery began work on his magnificent atlas in 1830 with illustrator Nicolas Henri Jacob (1782-1871), a pupil of the French painter Jacques Louis David. The first volumes were published the following year, but it took almost twenty years to complete the entire work; Bourgery lived long enough to complete his fascinating effort, but the last volume, the eighth, was published five years after his death. The four parts which make up the Treaty of Bourgery deal of descriptive anatomy, surgical anatomy and technique (are addressed in detail practically all the operations that were performed in the first half of the nineteenth century), general anatomy, embryology, and microscopic anatomy. The spectacular life-size lithographs Jacob handpainted stand out for their clarity, color and aesthetic appeal, reflecting a combination of direct scientific observation in the laboratory and drawing beauty. Still unsurpassed today, these images offer a unique perspective on the anatomy, not only for those who work in the medical field but also for artists, students and anyone interested in the operation and the wonders of the human body.
