Oplomoklion

Pair of copper engravings depicting the front and back of the oplomoklion, engraved by Giovanni Bettamini and printed in Bologna by Giuseppe Longhi.

The oplomoklion devised by the great Italian anatomist and surgeon Girolamo Fabrizio d'Acquapendente (1537-1619) is the first historical image of a complete human exoskeleton. It appears in two plates (front and back) in Fabrizio's surgical work published posthumously in Italian. The two plates of the oplomoklion were first engraved by Giovanni Georgi or Giorgi (active between 1617 and 1656), and later reprinted with the added imprint of the publisher Matteo Cadorin in 1671. The name of Angelus Carlescus Pordononens, an inventor from Padua, also appears in them.

This pair of engravings of the oplomoklion was instead published to illustrate the rare second edition of the work, printed in Bologna by Giuseppe Longhi in 1709. These are copies made by means of another copper plate made by Bettamini in the late 17th century.

An iron model in the collection of the "Science Museum" in London bears a striking resemblance to Fabricius' Oplomoklion. This demonstrates the innovative means of teaching and research that existed in Padua at the time. In fact, a passage by physician Antonio Vallisneri (1661-1730) indicates that this extraordinary device was actually built to full scale and used.

Etchings, impressed on contemporary laid paper, with margins or trimmed to copper, minimal restorations to upper right corner, otherwise in good condition.