Woodcut figures of pregnant woman and foetus in utero from The Expert Midwife or an Excellent and Most Necessary Treatise on the Generation and Birth of Man (1637), an English translation of Jakob Rüff’s midwifery manual, originally published in German and Latin in 1554.
Featured on PDR in the essay Picturing Pregnancy in Early Modern Europe
When the womb began to appear in printed images during the 16th century, it was understood through analogy: a garden, uroscopy flask, or microcosm of the universe. Rebecca Whiteley explores early modern birth figures, which picture the foetus *in utero*, and discovers an iconic form imbued with multiple kinds of knowledge: from midwifery know-how to alchemical secrets, astrological systems to new anatomical findings.
Also appearing in the essay…
Pregnant Woman and Foetus in Utero
Date
1637
From
The Expert Midwife or an Excellent and Most Necessary Treatise on the Generation and Birth of Man
