88th Table: A Skeleton Risen from its Tomb

The 88th table in Govard Bidloo's Anatomia Humani Corporis, and his later atlas Ontleding des Meschelyken Lichaams, depicts a skeletal figure holding a piece of drapery walking towards a tomb int he ground. The skeletal figure is situated beside a tomb in the ground, blocked out by large sheets of stone, located under a rusticated archway. In the background, a burial monument with a pyramidal block of stone resting atop female sphinx like figures is set on a pedestal. The artist Gerard de Lairesse, who designed the plates, took great liberty in creating a historicized landscape, complete with pastoral scenery of flowing trees, and rolling fields that lead to a far off town. The skeleton is shown walking away from the viewer, the body positioned in a contraposto stance with one leg engaged and the other abound to step onto the ledge of the tomb. Letters label the different bones that make up the skeleton, though the anatomist has decided to only provide labeling for the larger and more easily identifiable bones.