Finger of God

In seventeenth-century Leiden the Theatrum Anatomicum was a venue not to be missed: many travelogues sing the praises of the anatomical theatre and its collection of rarities. But what was the thinking behind this theatre, established in 1594, and its collection of anatomical preparations, ethnographica, art and archeological objects? Who were the scholars who worked there and what were their objectives? This study, that straddles the fields of science and cultural history, goes in search of the motivations of the Leiden anatomists of the Dutch Golden Age, their quest for evidence of ‘the finger of God’. Huisman investigates both anatomical practice and the individuals involved (not only professors, but also servants, surgeons and the deceased who were the subject of their research), with the ultimate aim to give insight into the philosophical and metaphysical reflections to which the study of the human body gave rise.