One of the most famous images in the history of medicine: a skeleton leaning on a tomb, chin on hand, contemplating a skull — anatomy and philosophy in a single figure. *Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt*, reads the tomb: genius lives on; the rest belongs to death. Vesalius gave his skeleton the posture of a scholar and let it grieve, and in doing so made the anatomical plate a place where science could think about what it was looking at. Science as memento mori.

Maker: Andreas Vesalius
Date: 1543
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Published Basel, 1543 · Wellcome Collection
Credit: Published Basel, 1543 · Wellcome Collection
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00936

As chosen: 12 x 18 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	12 x 18 in
Outside size	13.6 x 19.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
8 x 12 in	266	Excellent	Trimmed 6.3%
11 x 14 in	206	Excellent	Trimmed 9.5%
12 x 16 in	189	Good	Trimmed 5.2%
12 x 18 in	177	Good	Trimmed 6.3%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 10 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
16 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
16 x 24 in	133 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 24 in	126 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	106 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
24 x 36 in	88 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 40 in	75 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	63 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	53 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged

Scanned

2026-10-07

Master file

2,276 x 3,200 px, srgb

Tone

Darks 0, lights 206 of 255; 0% clipped light, 5.6% clipped dark

Colour

0% vivid

Sharpness

107.35

Notes

Shadows clip on 6% of the image: the darkest areas print as solid black
Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned

Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.

Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.

A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.