Anatomical machines Giuseppe Salerno, an anatomist from Palermo, around 1763. Some legends, disproved by modern studies, account for the direct involvement of the prince in the building process, while in fact he only bought them. A contract, found in the notary archive of Naples, states that di Sangro provided to Salerno metal wire and wax for the work. They were described in detail for the first time in the "Breve Nota" (short note), an 18th-century guide to Palazzo di Sangro and its neigh chapel. It also accounts the existence of a third machine, a fetus complete with placenta: it was exposed together
Écorché known as the “artist-anatomist” for the creation of a new science and the creative depiction to anatomy. Leonardo’s anatomical studies contributed to artistic exploration of the movement of the muscles, joints and bones. His goal was to analyze and understand the instruments behind the postures and gestures in the human body. The study of anatomical figures became popular among the medical academies across Europe around the 17th and 18th century, especially when there was a lack of bodies available for dissections. Medical students relied on these figures because they provided a good representation of what the anatomical model looks like.