[A humane picture of the human? Prolegomenon of change in the human image in anatomy].

When during the last three decades of the 19th century German clinical medicine was established as a natural science anatomy e.g. was referred to as a model on this way. At that time this discipline, however, was delved into Richtungskämpfe between evolutionary morphology on the one side and physiological and clinically orientated anatomy on the other, comprising a discussion on the Wissenschaftlichkeit of the different directions. In the end anatomy evolved as a medical discipline leaving evolutionary morphology to the zoologists. Concomitantly with this change in the self-conception of the discipline as a natural science anatomy was charged with the imprinting of the prospective physician and his picture of the human being. This respective picture is analysed in the anatomical illustration from Vesalius up to nowadays considering the unity of art and anatomy in the visual media as well as in its disjunction. In this context the dominance of science on art in the service of anatomy is discussed with special reference to the neoclassical influence on further development. The latter is characterized by an increasing abstraction and diagrammatic representation of the human figure referring to man as a reparable electrochemical machine without mystery. This corresponds to a clinical medicine comprehending as a reparative and mechanical profession. The restoration of a humane picture of the human being may be achieved by an anatomy directed to life and an art extended to an anthropological conception.