Horse anatomy and art: Carlo Ruini

Carlo Ruini's Dell'Anotomia et dell'infirmità del cavallo (1598) is widely regarded as the first scientific treatise on veterinary anatomy. This paper reviews the historical circumstances of its composition and printing history, the structure and scientific content of its five anatomical books, the long-standing controversy over Ruini's authorship - including the plagiarisms it subsequently suffered - and the disputed attribution of its woodcut illustrations to artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and Agostino Carracci. Ruini's description of the pulmonary circulation is situated within a comparative chronology running from Vesalius (1543) to Harvey (1628), and a terminological table cross-references Ruini's descriptive language with current veterinary anatomical nomenclature. The paper further considers the nineteenth-century rehabilitation of Ruini's reputation, chiefly through the efforts of Giovan Battista Ercolani, against the background of the broader institutionalization of veterinary medicine in Europe. The analysis situates Ruini's contribution within the broader history of comparative anatomy and of the discovery of blood circulation. It highlights the artistic value of the treatise's iconography alongside its scientific merit.