Life Sized Mosaic Recreations of 16th Century Anatomical Engravings by Bartolomeo Eustachi

Artist and sculptor John T. Unger is embarking on a quest to make mosaic recreations of the 16th century engravings from the Tabulae Anatomicae by Bartolomeo Eustachi, the father of anatomical study.

I chose Eustachi’s drawings because of their beauty and because their rich colors made them easier to interpret than black and white illustrations. The U.S. National Library of Medicine provided high resolution scans of their 1873 edition of Tabulae anatomicae for me to work from. …The stones and minerals I use in the mosaics occur in all the same colors as the interior of the human body—this similarity is completely fascinating to me, and was a major inspiration for the project.

The 14 mosaics Unger is creating will be comprised of stone, marble and precious gems. In order to complete this enormous undertaking, Unger is raising funds through Kickstarter.

I haven’t sought funding before now because I wanted to be able to show proof that these incredibly detailed drawings could be accurately rendered in stone. I had a clear vision, but felt people were more likely to respond if they could see part of the vision realized. Over the last two years, I’ve invested $41,386.29 on the project (this is the first project I’ve ever kept detailed expense records for). The vast bulk of stone was all ordered up front to insure consistent color, so the cost of completing the second half will be much, much lower.

Unger will be showing the completed work in June 2019 at the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, New York.

Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY will debut the Anatomy Mosaics, June 12th through July 28, 2019. Once the project is complete, I plan to send the collection on a global tour.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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