Art Anatomy of Animals

225 Pages·2006·7.84 MB·English

by  Ernest Seton-Thompson

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PRINCIPLES OF PATTERN DESIGN, Richard M. Proctor. (0-486-26349-5)
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ANATOMY: A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR ARTISTS, Joseph Sheppard. (0-486-
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26723-7) SCULPTURE: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, Louis Slobodkin.
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MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF MEDIEVAL PAINTING, Daniel V.
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Bibliographical Note This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an
unabridged republication of the work originally published by Macmillan and
Company, Ltd., London, in 1896 under the title Studies in the Art Anatomy of
Animals.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seton, Ernest Thompson,
1860–1946.
[Studies in the art anatomy of animals]
Art anatomy of animals / Ernest Thompson Seton.—Dover ed.
p. cm.
Originally published: Studies in the art anatomy of animals. London: Macmillan
and Co., Ltd., 1896.
Includes index.
9780486140919
1. Animals in art. 2. Anatomy, Artistic. I. Title.
NC780.S5 2006
743.6—dc22
2005046661

Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y 11501
TO MY LIFE-LONG FRIEND

MRS. C. M. B. SCHREIBER,

WHO FIRST DIRECTED MY ATTENTION TO THE STUDY OF ART
ANATOMY,

THIS VOLUME IS

Affectionately Dedicated.
PREFACE
THERE has hitherto been no general work on the Anatomy of Animals from
the Art standpoint. There have been several treatises on the Anatomy of the
Horse and one or two on others of the domesticated animals, but no work
presenting the general principles of Comparative Anatomy applied to Art.
The various special works existent cannot be said to answer the present
purpose even within their somewhat circumscribed limits. All are open to serious
objection. Either they were written entirely from the surgical or zoological
standpoint, and internal structure rather than external form made the chief object
of study; or the subject is treated obviously with the dead animal only in view; or
they are overburdened with text and in most cases poorly illustrated.
I have endeavoured to advance a step by treating primarily the visible form of
the living animal; working always with the living subject before me as well as a
dead one on the dissecting table. I have aimed to inculcate general principles by
treating in detail a familiar and typical species, the Dog, comparing with it all
animals commonly represented by the painter and sculptor and supplementing
the anatomical studies of each by series of actual and proportional
measurements.
I have made a careful study of Hair, or Fur, from the scientific as well as the
artistic point of view. That this is the first attempt ever made to study the subject
is surprising in view of its great importance to the artist, an importance which
will scarcely be questioned after an examination of the works of the
conscientious Japanese or the best modern masters of animal sculpture. The
section on the Art Anatomy of Birds may also claim to be unique, for although
antedated by the full and valuable papers from the pen of Mr. Goodchild, this is
the first time that the subject has been treated in a publication designed expressly
for artists.
The plates, which are the chief feature of this work, are from original
drawings made from my own dissections or from nature.
The same anatomical names are used for all the species treated, as I cannot
understand why anatomists should give a fresh set of names to the muscles for
understand why anatomists should give a fresh set of names to the muscles for
each new animal—surely it is better to retain throughout, as far as possible, the
familiar nomenclature of the human subject. It is maintained that this results in
occasional absurdities in view of the meaning of the terms, but it seems to me
preferable to consider the names merely as handles to the facts, as abstract
symbols ; for if we admit the right to a fully descriptive name the nomenclature
must continue to change as long as human opinion changes.
Among the books referred to, the most useful were Ellenberger and Baum’s
“Anatomie des Hundes,” and the anatomical works of Chauveau, Mivart, and
Cuyer and Alix. A list of the principal works consulted is appended.
My thanks are due to Dr. John Caven, of Toronto Medical School, and to Dr.
A. Primrose, of Toronto Biological School, for assistance in making my
dissections as well as for placing at my disposal the material and appliances in
their laboratories; to Professor Filhol, of the Museum d‘Histoire Naturelle, for
putting at my service the skeletons in the Galerie d’Anatomie Comparée; and to
Professor Ed. Cuyer for assisting me with the material in the Museum of the
École des Beaux Arts in Paris.
I am also indebted in an especial degree to Mr. William Anderson, F.R.C.S.,
Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, for assistance in
matters bibliographical, and for a revision of the text, particularly of the chapters
relating to the bones and muscles; and to Miss Grace Gallatin, of New York, for
essential aid in the literary revision of the work, and for putting the manuscript
in due form for the printer.
ERNEST E. THOMPSON.
PARIS,
August 1895.
Table of Contents
DOVER BOOKS ON ART INSTRUCTION
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
ART ANATOMY OF ANIMALS
CHAPTER I. - GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
CHAPTER II. - THE HAIR.
CHAPTER III. - THE SKIN FOLDS.
CHAPTER IV. - THE NERVES.
CHAPTER V. - THE GLANDS.
CHAPTER VI. - THE VEINS.
CHAPTER VII. - THE FASCIÆ LIGAMENTS AND TENDONS.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX. - THE MUSCLES OF THE DOG.
CHAPTER X. - THE MUSCLES OF THE DOG (continued. )
CHAPTER XI. - THE MUSCLES OF THE DOG (continued.)
CHAPTER XII. - THE MUSCLES OF THE DOG (continued).
CHAPTER XIII. - THE MUSCLES OF THE DOG (continued).
CHAPTER XIV. - THE SIZE AND PROPORTIONS OF THE DOG.
CHAPTER XV. - THE ANATOMY, SIZE, AND PROPORTIONS OF
THE WOLF.
CHAPTER XVI. - THE FOX.
CHAPTER XVII. - THE ANATOMY, SIZE AND PROPORTIONS OF
THE CAT.
CHAPTER XVIII. - THE ANATOMY, SIZE AND PROPORTIONS OF
THE LION.
CHAPTER XIX. - THE ANATOMY, SIZE AND PROPORTIONS OF
THE TIGER.