16th-century Life Sciences

Part 1. Materia Medica and Herbals: Fuchs

Leonhart Fuchs, 1501-1566

Leonhart Fuchs, a professor of Medicine at the University of Tuebingen, was one of the most important mid-sixteenth-century German herbalists (Figure 1) . In this portrait he is depicted with one hand resting on his book, the other hand holding a plant for inspection. His learned works extracted the best knowledge available from Galen, Dioscorides and Pliny, and he described according to the method of Dioscorides nearly a hundred northern European plants unknown to previous physicians. Fuchs combined careful textual scholarship with striking depictions of German plants drawn from life. (Figure 2)

De historia stirpivm commentarii insignes, maximis impensis et vigiliis elaborati, adiectis earvndem vivis plvsqvam quingentis imaginibus, nunquam antea ad naturae imitationem artificiosius effictis et expressis, Leonharto Fvchsio medico had nostra aetate longe clarissimo, autore ... Accessit ... ijs succincta admodum uocum difficilium et obscurarum passim in hoc opere ocurrentium explicatio. Vna cum quadruplici indice, quorum primus quidem stirpium nomenclaturas graecas, alter latinas, tertius officinis seplasiariorum et herbarijs usitatas, quartus germanicas continebit. Basileae, In officina Isingriniana, 1542. (31 cm)

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Although Fuchs followed the materia medica tradition by arranging plants in the order of the Greek alphabet, four indices cross-referenced plant names according to Greek, Latin, German and common apothecary usage.

Three remarkable portraits at the end of the work depict the craftsmen at work: Heinricus Fuellmaurer, the artist; Albertus Mayer, who transfered the drawings to the blocks; and a woodblock cutter, Veitus Rudolph Speckle. The skilled women who likely hand-colored the illustrations were not similarly honored. In collaboration they created over 500 woodcuts for Fuchs’ text, which often served as the basis for illustrations in later herbals.

(Figure 8)

Among the many editions of Fuchs’ work in the Collections is a small, hand-sized edition of De historia stirpium published the following year (not shown).

Exhibit credit: Kerry Magruder.