In Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery's (1797–1849) Atlas d’anatomie humaine, anatomical iconography reached an unprecedented level of scientific accuracy and artistic perfection. His work remains one of the most comprehensive and beautifully illustrated treatises on anatomy ever published. Bourgery, a respected surgeon and anatomist in Paris, but to his disappointment never holding a scientific teaching position during his lifetime, began work on the elaborate, magnificent atlas in 1830 in collaboration with the illustrator Nicolas Henri Jacob (1782–1871), a student of Jacques Louis David. The first volumes appeared the following year, but the final completion of the work was only achieved after two intensive decades of labor. Bourgery did not live to see the publication of the last part of his eight-volume monumental work and a supplementary volume due to his early death (cholera).

The eight volumes of Bourgery’s work cover descriptive anatomy, surgical anatomy and techniques (with detailed descriptions of all common operations performed in the first half of the 19th century), general anatomy and embryology, as well as microscopic anatomy. Jacob’s spectacular, hand-colored lithographs impress with their clarity, coloring, and brilliance. They reflect a combination of direct laboratory observations and research in the field of medical illustration. The unique images offer scientifically absolutely accurate and artistically perfect insights into human anatomy and are likely to fascinate not only readers from medical professions but also artists, students, and all those interested in the nature of our body.