Alessandra Crupi

Conceptualization of the Kidney - Visual Essay

Based on an essay written for the course Illustration - Rise Pop Culture (2021). The essay explains how illustrators played a role in medical advancement within the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries by working alongside atomists and doctors creating images through observation to communicate how organs function and how medical procedures unfold. The visual essay highlights two illustrators, in particular, Andreas Vesalius and Max Brodel, and how their unconventional methods in translating their findings influenced our modern understanding of the kidney.