Medical art is a record of the human body in the form of drawing, painting, sculpture and photography. Traditionally it was used to record significant anatomical landmarks and features, both normal and abnormal. Medical art may be presented alone or as part of a written work.

The primary practitioners of medical art are artists trained in medical illustration, anatomical illustration or life drawing. Medical artists can also be illustrators trained in medical illustration but not necessarily anatomically or medically trained, or doctors who have studied artistic anatomy as part of their medical education.

Medical illustrations most often appear in textbooks, journals and articles discussing mechanisms of disease processes or surgical procedures. It is also used to educate patients about their conditions and to give the medical community a view of what the patient sees during the process of examination or treatment.

Medical art is one of many types of medical visualization, which includes techniques from medicine, computer science, photography and filmmaking. 

Medical art overlaps with fields such as anatomical models, clinical illustration, animation (specifically radiology), scientific visualization and fine arts such as sculpture and painting.

Medical art is a field of study that requires the ability to observe and understand the human body. An artist should have a working knowledge of the bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs of the human body as well as the effects of various diseases. The purpose of medical art is to accurately illustrate various aspects of the human body so that they can be better understood by doctors, patients and students.

Medical art is a mixture of art and science. The artist has to observe the anatomy closely and then detail it beautifully, creating a true representation of the anatomy. Medical art can be used for clinical instruction or for aesthetic purposes.

Medical art may be used in medical books and journals, which are usually referred to as medical illustration. This type of art is also displayed in medical offices and hospitals, where they serve as educational tools to help people understand the human body, its things and functions. It could also be used to create plastic models that can be used to study human anatomy.

Medical art is becoming widely popular these days especially because it helps students learn from a scientific point of view. Students can easily understand the illustrations and relate them to their studies.

This kind of art is widely known as artistic anatomy; it shares many similarities with fine arts but it requires a lot of studying on how the anatomy works first. Usually, medical illustrators will require years before they become professionals in this field. Most illustrators who specialize in medical art undergo training programs that last two years while those who want to teach in this field undergo further training before they can teach others.

Medical art mainly focuses on the human body and its internal functions. The process of creating medical art allows the artist to study a model before drawing it as they draw what they see with their pencils and brushes not just what they imagine in their heads. The art is created by either tracing over a previous drawing or through direct observation of a live model.

The creation of medical art has been around for years and is used for many purposes such as teaching, research, publication and advertising. Medical art can also be used to illustrate various diseases and treatments of both humans and animals. Medical artists are trained in the human form, bones, brain anatomy, muscular structure, etc.

These illustrations are very detailed because the artist is going to use these drawings for teaching purposes or to help people understand different parts of the body so that it can be treated properly. Since medical art can be used for many things there are different styles that are used by artists which may include anatomical accuracy, graphic design layouts or artistic interpretation.

Medical illustration is a field that requires both artistic talent and scientific knowledge. It is a discipline to be studied and mastered.

Medical art is an art that illustrates medical procedures, and includes the use of medical doctors, nurses, researchers, occupational therapists and many others.

It is a pictorial representation of an actual or proposed operation, procedure, instrumentation or therapy for the purpose of instruction or communication.

Medical art is a profession that involves illustrations and diagrams of the human body. Medical artists are often employed by hospitals, universities, surgeons and physicians. Medical art is used in a variety of settings, including medical schools, research centers, and doctors’ offices. Hospitals use medical illustration to educate students and patients about procedures, anatomy, and clinical aspects of medicine.

Medical art is also used in surgical planning and pre-operative planning to help the physician visualize complicated procedures before they begin. Surgical models allow the surgeon to practice a procedure or set up for surgery without actually operating on a patient. Physicians may use medical art to stimulate ideas for patient diagnoses or procedures as well.

Although dissection was usually a part of the medical curriculum, it was not until the Renaissance that artists were employed specifically to draw or paint the subject. The 14th-century artist at Bologna, MS Padua, is generally credited with being the first artist to be employed for this purpose.

Taddeo Gaddi and Jan van Calcar are also among those who were paid to do such work; their work can be seen in many museums today. The tradition of such medical artists spread to other major cities of Italy in the mid-16th century: Rome (Marcantonio Raimondi), Ferrara (Girolamo da Carpi), Florence (Agostino Veneziano) and Naples (Michele Desubleo).

The names of early practitioners are known from archival records and from the dedications and prefaces in numerous anatomical treatises. They include Alessandro Castiglione, Giovanni Antonio Mallerino, Giuseppe Chiari and Girolamo Fabrizio d’Acquapendente, who started his career as an artist at a very young age. Many were trained as artists before becoming anatomists and continued to practice as artists after leaving medicine.*