View The Four Seasons: An Interactive Web Version of the Engravings >>

The History of Medicine Collections and Anthony Benson, formerly of the Division of Educational Medial Services, Duke University School of Medicine, produced an interactive version of The Four Seasons in 2000, which has now been reprogrammed for the Web. Funds for the creation of this resource were donated by John P. McGovern, MD.

These unique seventeenth-century copperplate engravings from the Trent Collection were digitally reconstructed from over 200 photographs to reproduce the experience of lifting the multilayered flaps and volvelles to reveal various anatomical dissections. A metaphor for the stages of human life, the prints illustrate not only human anatomy but are replete with allusions to alchemy, astrology, astronomy, zoology, botany, geography, physiology, uroscopy, and palmistry.