Leonardo da Vinci, who lived from 1452-1519, is well known for his anatomical sketches of the human body. He would dissect dead human remains and then draw what he saw. Dissection was completely illegal unless one was a physician, which da Vinci was not.

Who was the first artist to dissect bodies?

15th/16th Century

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), today's most well-known Renaissance artist and scientist, performs many anatomical dissections of human corpses that form the basis for his famous, highly detailed anatomical sketches.

Who used dissection of the human body?

In the first half of the third century B.C, two Greeks, Herophilus of Chalcedon and his younger contemporary Erasistratus of Ceos, became the first and last ancient scientists to perform systematic dissections of human cadavers.