The Beauty of Anatomy

Art, ideology – and dissection: the close relationship between discoveries in human anatomy and the works of art that illustrate them. In the first of two insightful programs, Dr Adam Rutherford looks at the work of the second-century Roman Empire anatomist, writer and philosopher Claudius Galen alongside Renaissance artist – and part-time dissector – Leonardo da Vinci.

In 17th-century Holland, dissecting bodies was considered the epitome of high art. Great artists of the age, such as Rembrandt, produced the most beautiful anatomical paintings yet created. Dr Adam Rutherford travels to Dutch cities The Hague and Amsterdam to find out what it was that drew Rembrandt to the cutting edge of medical science.