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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

A Visual Description of the Dissection of the Cerebral Surface Vasculature and Associated Meninges and the Choroid Plexus from Rat Brain
Published on: November 14, 2012
Christopher Wren, Thomas Willis and the depiction of the brain and nerves
1Humanities Department, Dawson College, 3040 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3Z 1A4, Canada. aneher@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
Abstract:
This paper is about Christopher Wren's engravings for Thomas Willis' The Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves of 1664. It is a study in the intersection of medicine and art in 17th century Britain. Willis, an eminent English physician and anatomist, was a major figure in the development of modern neurology, and The Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves was his most famous and influential book. Wren was Willis' assistant and medical artist. I discuss the visual strategies employed by Wren to present their research and frame it as genuine knowledge.
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