Carte Anatomie Partea1 - EN

Tiberiu Vlad, Raluca Minea Artistic anatomy and morphology
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ANATOMY AND MORPHHOLOGY:

DEFINITIONS, FIELD OF STUDY AND CORRELATED DISCIPLINES
Living beings offer to art the most important theme of inspiration, observation,
artistic transfiguration and composition. The majority of works of art from the grand
imaginary museum of the history of art all over the world are representations of man
and animals in various styles. In them the knowledge of structure, form and the
exterior model of the body are interwoven with the admiration for the organic
harmony of proportion and the solidity of construction. The nude is the basic genre of
visual arts, while artistic anatomy is the starting point of subsequent interpretations,
ensuring the objectiveness of form and the verisimilitude of movement. The
morphology of artistic representation and The anthropology of art deal with
subjective visions in artistic work.
Within the study drawing, beside perspective, anatomy is the corner stone and
the instrument of objective investigation of the real. Modelling and drawing after a
live model are highly important activities within any institution of artistic education.
They are made, somewhat paradoxically, beginning with the most complex being,
man.
Fig. 1. Rembrandt – sketch. Female model posing in the workshop
The human model is the only one that poses explicitely and cooperatively. The
established term of “artistic anatomy” is valid especially from a pragmatic point of
view, in the sense of anatomy destined for the visual artist.
A more rigorous analysis would impose the term of aesthetic anatomy, given
its specificity, aim and even definition of objective knowledge of living beings. The
study of anatomy emphasises the fact that the living form possesses numerous
aesthetic qualities: unity, variety, balance, harmony, rhythm, symmetry, clarity,
naturalness, the law of the golden section, etc. Logical understanding and intuition are
tightly interwoven and precede the creative process. To this end, it must be underlined
that a sharp sense of observation is not sufficient for an artist. (S)he will see only what
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(s)he knows and will have understood beforehand, as the drawing is a synthesis
between what we know and what we are seeing. Truthful or verisimilar, art must
conform to the deep motivation of subjective experiences, be similar to reality and
life, even if it is dream, fancy and fiction. The truth in nature lies at the basis of the
verisimilar in art, said Diderot.
Fig.2. Gottfried Bammes – Laboratory of artistic anatomy

at the Arts University in Dresden
The knowledge of anatomy eases the observation of the model, enabling a very fast
synthetic graphic expression. The virtuosity of the masters of sketching is obtained
after lengthy anatomic studies and repeated exercises.
Anatomy is the fundamental discipline, which studies the structure of living
beings in a predominantly analytical and descriptive manner. Etymologically, the
term comes from the Greek anatomos, which can be translated through cutting. In
contemporary anatomic description, beside the locally circulating national
terminology, there also appears Nomina Anatomica, the international terminology in
the Latin language, homologated at the international congress in Basel and reviewed
in Birmingham. It offers to artists the basis of knowledge necessary to a methodical
and systematic understanding of the make-up of the body and its constitutive parts and
takes its necessary objective data from descriptive anatomy: osteology – the study of
the skeleton, arthrology – the study of the joints, myology – the study of the muscles.
In order to systematise, clarify and understand the construction of the studied
stuctures, it frequently uses the terms of descriptive geometry. For the purpose of a
rigurous description, anatomic structures must be framed in the form of geometrical
bodies in space, having bases, edges, sides, heights, apexes, etc.
The prism is the geometrical body limited by two congruent polygons situated
on parallel planes, considered bases, and by parallelograms as sides. The form of a
prism is detemined by the type of the base polygon (triangle, rectangle, square, etc.)
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and by the position of the lateral edges (all parallel between themselves) as to the
plane of the bases. When the edges are perpendicular onto the bases plane, the prism
is right.
The parallelipiped is the prism with parallelogram bases. The rectangle
parallelipided is the polyhedron with all its six sides as rectangles. In this case, any
side can be considered a base, while its height shall be the lenght of the edges
perpendicular on that base. The oblique parallelipiped is the polyhedron with
congruent-rectangle bases, two parallelogram sides and two rectangle sides. The
rectangle parallelipiped with all six sides as congruent squares is called a cube and it
is the rectangle parallelipiped inscribed in the sphere with a maximum volume.
The pyramid is the polyhedron formed out of a polygon named base and
triangular sides with a base on the sides of the polygon and the apexes in a common
point. The regular four sided pyramid has a square at its base and the projection of the
apex of the pyramid in the centre of the triangle of the base. By sectioning a pyramid
with a parallel plane to the base, two geometrical bodies are obtained: a smaller
pyramid like the initial pyramid, as the polygon of the section is like the base polygon,
and a pyramid trunk of the same nature like the initial pyramid. If we section a
pyramid trunk with a plane parallel to the bases, a further two pyramid trunks with
polygon bases like the former are obviously obtained. The polyhedron made up of
four tops, six equal edges and four sides in the form of congruent equilateral triangles
is called a regular tetrahedron.
The right circular cylinder is the geometrical body generated by the rotation of
a rectangle around one of the sides. In this case, all generatrices are perpendicular onto
the plane of the circle or of the arc, which constitutes the base. A right circular
cylinder is described by the radius of the bases and by its height, equal to the
generatrix. Laid onto its side, the right circular cylinder rolls in a straight line in a
direction perpendicular onto the generatrix.
The right circular cone is the geometrical body obtained by the rotation of a
right triangle around a cathetus, as the hypotenuse generates the lateral surface of the
cone. A right circular cone is described by the radius of the base circle, height (the
projection of its apex onto the centre of the base) and generatrix. Laid laterally, the
cone rolls around its apex, as its lateral surface describes a sector of a circle with the
radius onto the generatrix.
The geometrical body obtained after sectioning a right circular cone with a
plane parallel to the base and removing the small cone is called a right circular cone
trunk. Both the large and the small bases of the right circular cone trunk are circles
with the centres onto the height of the initial cone. The right circular cone trunk is also
a rotation body and it can be obtained by rotating a right trapezium around the side
perpendicular onto the bases. If it is laid onto its lateral side, the right circular cone
trunk touches the plane only on the generatrix and rolls in the same way, around the
hypothetical apex of the cone it originates from.
The sphere is the geometrical body determined by a surface with all its points
at the same distance from an inner point called centre. The sphere is also a rotation
body. It can be generated by rotating a circle (disc) around a diameter and it is the
geometrical body with the smallest surface / volume ratio. The sphere rolls in all
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directions on a plane. The sectioning of a sphere with a plane is a circle, irrespective

of position, and we obtain two spherical caps in its aftermath.
The spherical area is the part of a sphere contained between two parallel
planes.
Morphology describes the general construction of the body, the proportions,
axes, angles, diameters, the outer form determined by its muscular or skeleton reliefs.
Analysed anatomically, the structure of the living is completed through the new
synthetic vision of morphology. Etymologically, the term comes from the Greek
language: morphology = speaking about forms, morphe = form, logos = word.
Morphology considers the studied system as being part of a unitary whole tied through
complex correlations at rest and in movement. Posture and expressive attitudes,
mimics, gestures and panto-mimics are determined by emotions, feelings and
passions, so understanding the exteriorisation of affective experiences resorts to
psychology. Since it is a synthetic field found at the crossroads of descriptive-
comparative preoccupations, a general morphology and special morphologies are
distinguished in its framework: of the sexes, comparative man-woman morphology,
the morphology of the ages, of development, types of proportioning and exterior
modelling, etc. To this end, it takes over the analytical data offered by biotypology
(artistic body types, types of proportioning) and descriptive anatomy (notions about
the skeleton, joints, muscles, points of reference, exact data and measurements).
The locomotor apparatus - the description of the complex make-up of the
human body or of various animals is made by dividing it into apparatuses (complex
anatomic entity, which fulfils interconnected functions) and systems (ensembles of
anatomic structures subordinated to apparatuses). The anatomic study of the body
along isolated apparatuses and systems is only a methodical artifice, necessary out of
didactic reasons, which forces us to proceed analytically. We must not forget,
however, that they form a unitary whole of organically related structures. They depend
on each other and form an indivisible anatomic and functional whole. All structures
are functional, as all functions are structural. Naturally, the relations between
structure and function are simultaneously bilateral and determine one another. They
can be understood more dialectically when they are also shed light upon by the
anatomic and functional study criterion. According to this principle, the human body
is a system built in a spiral. Most of the bones are twisted around their axis (the
humerus, the tibia and the fibula). The coxal bone has the form of a propeller with the
extremities orientated in different planes. The muscles are woven, twisted and then
fixed onto the bone extremities, alternatively. On the inner side of the forearm, the
flexors situated internally in the region of the elbow become externally inferior, while
on the posterior side the extensors have an oblique direction, inverse as to the former.
The body as a whole, during walking or in movement, seems screwed into space, as
the axis of the shoulders rotates in inverse direction as to the pelvis. This aspect is
evident especially in sports movements (throwing the disc, the weight or the javelin),
being a conclusive illustration of the dynamically balanced organisation of the living
form.
Especially through the character of inner reinforcement of the bone system, the
locomotor apparatus has the role of establishing the construction, the general spatial
form of the body, the dimensions and proportions of the various segments. This is its
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architectural function. The external modelling or the artistic function is ensured

first of all by the muscular system but sometimes the skeleton comes first, especially
when it is at the surface, contributing in a major way to the relief of the respective
region: the form of the neuro-cranium, of the face, the back of the hand, elbow, knee,
leg, etc. The skeleton also sometimes sends to the exterior bone prominences, which
thus become morphological references, also called artistic points. In order to describe
movement and the posture of the body in various stations and attitudes, artistic
anatomy resorts to the data offered by biomechanics. Biomechanics constitutes the
application of the principles of physics to the study of body dynamics, the functioning
of the locomotor apparatus, the explanation of balance, etc. The bones, joints and
muscles have different dynamic properties and roles but between them there is an
interaction which determines the biomechanical unity of the locomotor apparatus.
Through the biomechanical function, the locomotor apparatus supports
balance, offering the body support. The bones, through muscular insertions, determine
enduring levers and thus ensure the passive axes on which the muscles as active
organs shall activate. Their contraction determines the movement of the body in space
by mobilising various segments, some in relation to others.
Fig. 3. Left : 1st-degree lever, 1- the centre of gravity of the head, 2-the
support of the head on the spine, 3 – the place of applying force, 4 – the arm of the
force, 5 – the arm of the resistance. Right: 2nd degree level, R-resistance, S-
support, M-force (after Ghiţescu)
Within the locomotor apparatus, the muscles act according to the laws of
biomechanics: a couple formed by a muscle inserted on two neighbouring bones in
mobile articulation realises a lever, the simplest model in the study of movement.
Thus, F – the active force is represented by the muscle, R – the resistive force is
represented by the weight of the segment which moves and S – the point of support is
the biomechanical axis of the movement. According to the placement of the forces as
to the support three types of levers there stand out:
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- first-degree levers (the balance) in which the support

can be found between force and resistance. Locomotor examples are the
atlanto-occipital joint, the coxo-femoral joint, etc.
- second-degree levers in which the resistance is in the
middle are rarer. An example is the talocrural joint, in the position
standing on one’s toes.
- third-degree levers, with the force in the middle, can
be found especially with the limbs. They act with a loss of force and gain
of movement of the extremities, being speed levers like, for example, the
elbow joint.
For an exact framing in space, the notions of descriptive anatomy refer to the
anatomic position, the point of departure in defining the three-dimensional relations
between the component parts and between these and the whole. As it is a standard
position, for its simplicity the erect vertical station or orthostatism became established
on the didactic level. The support is symmetrical, with the lower limbs extended and
close together, the head is oriented forward, the higher limbs are supinely stretched
parallel to the body and the elbows are extended. Supination is the movement of
removing the thumb from the body through the external rotation of the arm and of the
forearm, with the palms oriented towards the front, while pronation is the inverse
movement, of inner rotation of the higher limbs, through which the thumb approaches
the body, with the palms oriented towards the back. At the limbs, the elements close to
the root of the free portion are called proximal, while the farthest of terminal ones are
called distal.
Fig. 4. A. Leonardo da Vinci –drawing from manuscripts (Windsor);

B. 3rd-degree (speed) lever
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The counter-position or the asymmetrical station (related to the hip) is

realised when, although both feet are on the ground, the weight of the body falls on
only one of them, as the other is relaxed. The lower support limb is oriented obliquely
upwards and outwards, as it becomes a powerful support column. This pushes
upwards and on its side the originally horizontal axis of the pelvis and renders it
oblique, higher on the support limb. The axis of the shoulders is slanted in inverse
fashion as to the pelvis’s, while the face rotates towards the support leg. This position
offers a wide variety of forms and many aesthetic qualities, a reason why artists have
been drawn by it as early as the era of Ancient Greece. The flexed thigh is rounder,
softer, while the support thigh is prismatically quadrilateral, modelled on the exterior
by the ilio-tibial tract and by the wide fascia, which impresses it with a tougher relief.
The fold of the buttock of the support limb is deepened and firmly outlined, while the
opposite fold of the buttock, of the relaxed limb, becomes very oblique and erased.
When the torso leans forward by much, the fold of the buttock disappears.
Fig. 5. The position of the segments and the main axes in the
asymmetrical (hip-related) AA–the transversal axis of the pelvis, BB-the axis of
the shoulders, DD-the vertical of the centre of gravity. B –back side (Ghiţescu)
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The kneeled station has a good support base but the model can lean
backwards more than to the front. When the thigh is vertical, the support is made on
the knee cap, and when it is horizontal – on the knee-cap ligament and the anterior
tuberosity of the tibia. The sitting station is also a secure position. The man sits on the
ischiatic tuberosities, covered by the muscles of the glute which forms the buttocks.
The slanting of the torso backwards is limited, but slanting forwards increases its
stability. Workshop poses frequently replace, out of didactic reasons, spontaneous
stations. However, they represent only a schematic, somewhat conventional form of
the stations, not their dynamically natural actions. The involuntary, reflex muscular
contractions, which give the spontaneity and the naturalness of life, are replaced by
static and artificial postures.
A B
Fig. 6. A. Constantin Brâncuşi – Prayer;

B. Michelangelo – Child sitting, 1530, Hermitage Museum
Balance is the fundamental condition necessary to achieving any station, the

body’s simplest manner of staying at rest. It presupposes the existence of a support
base and of a centre of gravity. At humans, this is placed somewhat higher than the
femoral ends, between the sacrum and the pubic symphysis, at the intersection of the
three main planes: mid-frontal, mid-sagittal, and mid-transversal. The gravity line or
the aplomb is the vertical which passes through the centre of gravity. The balance is
the stabler the larger the support base, the lower the centre of gravity of the body and
the closer its projection onto the ground, the inferior extremity of the aplomb,
respectively, falls to the geometrical centre of the flat polygon of the support base (the
soles and the space between them). Lateral movements of some parts of the body
modify the position of the centre of gravity. In order for balance to be maintained,
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counterbalancing by leaning to the other side is necessary. The same happens when
we load the body asymmetrically and, in order not to lose balance, we have to lean in
the opposite direction.
Seen sideways, the aplomb passes through the external malleolus, the middle of
the knee joint, the middle of the shoulder and through the auricle. Seen from the front,
the aplomb passes through the mid-sagittal plane: vertex, middle of the face, the
jugular incisure, the pubic symphysis and the internal malleolus. In the erect or
symmetrical station (orthostatism), the man supports himself on both legs, the torso is
upright and the centre of gravity is projected onto the middle of the support base. The
head is balanced by the muscles of the nape, the torso by the antigravitational muscles
(of the triple extension), the thighs by the ligaments of the knee and the ankle by the
triceps surae. The axes of the fragments of the body seen from the side have different
inclinations according to the natural attitude. When the model spreads her/his legs,
there is better balance, because the support base becomes larger. When one stands on
one’s toes, the body leans forward and the balance becomes precarious.
Fig. 7. The support base in the erect (left) and asymmetrical (right) stations
General orientation terms (termini generales)

The specific terms indicate the position, the direction and the ratios of the
diverse structures of the body. The three planes and main orientation axes intersect
each other perpendicularly in the centre of gravity. The main planes refer to the
imaginary sections with a role in specifying the orientation in relation to the three
spatial dimensions, length (height), width and thickness.
The main longitudinal axis, vertical in the orthostatic position, crosses the
body in all its length, is perpendicular onto the ground and has a superior (cranial)
pole and an inferior one at the base. It passes through the vertex (the top of the head)
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and falls onto the centre of the support polygon represented by the plantar surface (the
soles and the space between them). It is the axis of height or the size.
Fig. 8. The aplomb seen from the side and the alternative situation of the
weight of the parts of the body in the erect station. The active muscles of balance are:
1- the triceps surae, 2-the quadrants, 3-trapezius (after P.Richer)
The main antero-posterior (sagittal) axis corresponds to the thickness of the

body. It is horizontal, has an anterior or ventral pole and a posterior or dorsal one and
meets the vertical axis at a right angle. The main transversal axis is also horizontal
but perpendicular onto the first two. It crosses the body from left to right or in reverse
order and expresses width. The terms of direction are derived from the axes presented
above: superior and inferior (cranial and caudal), anterior and posterior (ventral and
dorsal), median, medial (internal) and lateral (external).
The planes are determined by and include two axes each, so they are
perpendicular onto the third axis.
The mid-frontal plane is vertical, parallel to the forehead, and includes the
longitudinal and transversal main axes and section the body in an anterior and a
posterior half. In reference to it, the anatomical elements shall be anterior, ventral or
posterior, dorsal.
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The mid-transversal plane is horizontal and includes the main sagittal and
transversal axes. In reference to it, the anatomical elements are superior or inferior.
Fig. 9. A – the forearm and the hand in supination, B- the forearm and the hand in
pronation
a – the main longitudinal axis , b- the main transversal axis, c- the main sagittal axis
a – the mid-frontal plane, b- the mid-sagittal plane, c- the mid-transversal plane
(after Ghiţescu)
The mid-sagittal plane is also vertical but perpendicular onto the frontal one.
It includes the main longitudinal and antero-posterior axes and sections the body from
front to back into two relatively symmetrical halves, left and right. Out of this reason
it is also called the plane of bilateral symmetry. In reference to these planes, the
anatomical elements shall be median or central, situated right in the mid-sagittal plane,
medial or internal, close to this plane or lateral or external, farther away from this
plane.
The locomotor apparatus is composed of bones, which form the skeleton or the bone
system, the joints, which form the articular system, and the skeletal muscles or the
muscular system. The bones are ties between them by fixed, semimobile and mobile
joints, which allow their movement. They represent the hard, static part, a veritable
inner reinforcement formed out of the support structures. Onto the bones, the passive
elements of the locomotor apparatus, the muscles, the active organs, are inserted,
which act upon them by transforming them into levers. The muscles constitute the
dynamic part of the locomotor apparatus, also determining the majority of its external
forms through its artistic function.
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Therefore, the study of the locomotor apparatus contains three parts:

osteology (Greek osteon = bone) is the part of anatomy that studies the bones;
arthrology (Greek arthron = joint, tie) represents the part whose object is the study
of joints;
myology (Greek myos = muscle) is the study of skeletal muscles and of mimics
Fig. 10. The axes and the orientation planes demonstrated on a sketch by Leonardo.
The skeleton in an anatomic position, sectioned by the three median planes and by the main
axes. AB- the longitudinal axis, CD-the transversal axis, EF- the sagittal axis.
The bones are hard, enduring organs, whose ensemble constitutes the
skeleton. The ones situated on the median line of the body (the frontal, occipital, the
sternum, the sacrum, etc.) are odd, formed, however, out of two symmetrical halves, a
right one and a left one. The ones situated laterally (the parietals, temporals, the ribs,
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the coxal bones, the bones of the limbs) are symmetrical pairs, so built mirroring the
mid-sagittal plane. Man’s and any animal’s skeleton is the primordial form, on which
all the other volumes are laid, being through its architectonic function the inner
reinforcement which determines the proportions of the body.
An intuitive classification according to form and the ratio between the
three dimensions (length, width and thickness) distinguishes the bones as follows:
- long bones (os longum), where the length surpasses the width and the
thickness. They are formed out of a body or diaphysis, which presents a
central marrow cavity and two extremities or epiphyses. The long bones
can be found especially at limb level and fulfil the role of speed levers in
movement.
- prolonged bones such as the ribs. They are thin, flattened and do not
present a central marrow cavity.
- flat bones (os platum), where the length and the width are comparable and
clearly surpass thickness. They are flattened and present two sides and a
variable number of edges and angles. The flat bones fulfil especially a
protection function, when they form cavities to host more sensitive internal
organs (the cranium, thorax and pelvis). Some of them provide insertion
for a large number of muscles, like the shoulder blade.
- short bones (os breve) are those, whose three dimensions are almost
equal. Their form approaches a cube and they can be found in the regions
where great solidity is necessary and where there are various movements
with a small amplitude, like the ones of the spine or in the carpal and tarsal
regions.
The surface of the bones is not always smooth. Sometimes it presents
important reliefs: prominences, cavities, holes, ridges, spines, etc. The prominences
and cavities can be articular or non-articular. The non-articular prominences are
determined by the traction exercised by the muscle at the place of insertion, as their
development is in a ratio with their force. The processes (processus) are strong, well
outlined prominences, which are detached from the surface of the bone. Equally ample
but irregular and not detached from the surface of the bone are the tuberosities
(tuberositas). If their surface is smoother, they are called eminences (eminentiae) and
if they are irregular, rugged and smaller, they are called tubercles (tuber). The ridge
(crista) is a prominent and cutting line, while the spine (spina) is a sharp, palpable
point, well detached from the surface of the bone. The non-articular cavities are
named after their form, role and dimensions: the hole, the conduct, the crevice or
groove (sulcus), the incisure is the hollow on the edge of a bone, the aperture is an
irregular opening, while the fossa is a large space, which provides insertion and hosts
the muscles.
The articular prominences are represented by: articular ends, which have
the aspect of spherical or ovoidal caps (with a large and a small axis), the throchleae
(similar to a pulley), articular prominences in a saddle (concave and convex in
perpendicular axes one onto the other), which allow particularly complex movements
like the ones of the joint between the thumb and the trapezius, hinge-type prominences
with articular condyles (cylinder segments), which allow rolling movements on a
single axis (flexion, extension).
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The articular cavities respond to the inversely conformed articular

prominences, which are homologous to them. They are modelled in relation to the
convex surfaces opposed to them, as they are the negative casting of the spherical or
ovoidal ends, of the articular condyles and trochleae. Thus, the acetabulum, the
cotyloid cavity of the coxal, is deepened 2/3 of a sphere, being the negative casting of
the head of the femur. The shallow glenoid cavities correspond to the condyles and to
the ovoidal ends, whereas the cochleae correspond to the trochleae.
1 3 4
2 5
Fig. 11. 1- flat aticular surfaces, which allow slight gliding movements. 2- spherical
articular head and cotyloid cavity, which allow mobility on all three axes (rotation and
circumduction); 3 – ovoidal articular head with two axes (large and small) and the corresponding
glenoid cavity. 4 – articular surfaces in a saddle (concave and convex in perpendicular axes one
onto the other ), which allow particularly complex movements, like those of the articulation of
the thumb with the trapezius; 5 – hinge-type articular surfaces with an articular condyle (cylinder
segment) and glenoid cavity, which allow movements along a single axis (flexion and extension)
6- rolling movement (cylinder on a plane).
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The joints (articulationes) are the structures between the bones. The most
important factor in determining the characteristics of a joint is its function, the
movement it allows. Thus, the joints are divided into three categories:
 immobile joints, a category that the fixed sutures of the cranium are part
of. When the bone surfaces come together like the teeth of a saw, the
suture is dented (sutura serrata). This is what the coronal suture of the
frontal with the parietals, the mid-sagittal suture between the parietals or
the lambdoid suture of the occipital with the parietals are like. The scaly
suture (sutura squamosa) has bone surfaces which are cut obliquely and
gradually thinned one on top of the other, as is the suture of the temporal
with the parietal.
 semimobile joints are the ones between the short bones in the carpal or
tarsal region, which only allow reduced sliding movements or the
intrinsic ones (between the spine bodies and arches) from the spine.
Articular surfaces are generally flat, like the auricular sides (similar to the form
of the auricle) of the sacrum and the iliac from the sacroiliac joint. Some semimobile
joints are realised through cartilages (for example the rib cartilage between the (bony)
rib proper and the sternum).
The cartilages are elastic and enduring structures which can sometimes build
wholly the form of certain regions: the lobe of the nose, the auricle, the thyroid
cartilage of the larynx, the xiphoid process (processus xifoideus) attached to the
inferior part of the sternum, etc.
 mobile articulations have great freedom on one, two or all three axes.
As the movements in this case are much ampler, most of the joints at
the limbs are included here. The most important means of realising
and consolidating these are the articular capsule and the ligaments.
The articular capsule (capsula articularis) is an anatomic formation in
the form of a protective muff, which is inserted through its edges at the
periphery of bony surfaces which effectively take part in the joint
(articular surfaces). The articular ligaments (ligamenta articularis) are
very enduring fibre bands, which are inserted onto the bony
extremities, which are joined, contributing to maintaining the contact
between articular surfaces. Lateral ligaments appear especially with
joints that have limited movements in a single plane and are much
required from mechanically. They are agglomerations of fibres on the
sides of the capsule, which maintain the direction of the force lines and
prevent the deviation of movement outside the articular surfaces. At
the mobile ones, the articular surfaces can be spherical, ovoidal,
cylindric, trochlear or in a saddle.
From the point of view of articular biomechanics, the form of articular surfaces
determines the nature of movements, while the placement of ligaments – their scope.
The inverted influence, of function on the form of articular surfaces, is obvious in the
case of gymnastic exercises practiced at young ages, which cause visible
modifications of the articular surfaces and ligaments, which become lighter.
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The articular axis is the line around which movements are executed. A joint
can have one or more axes. For example, the joint of the elbow presents a single axis,
that of the fist - two axes, while the joint of the shoulder – three. Movement always
takes place on a plane perpendicular on the axis around which the articulating bony
structures rotate. A mobile joint allows three kinds of elementary movements:
 sliding, the change of place of surfaces without their removal, like in flat
joints.
 rolling, the change of place of the surfaces of articular condyles. At
every new phase of the movement, other portions of these come into
contact, like a cylinder rolling onto a plane (the joint of the knee
between the condyles of the femur and the tibial plateau).
 abduction is the movement of removing the limbs from the mid-sagittal
plane
 adduction is the contrary movement, thanks to which the limbs or one of
their segments approach the mid-sagittal plane of the body.
 rotation, movement of twisting the mobile bone around the axis. In pivot
joints, where the axis passes through the contact points of the articular
surfaces, the rotation is pure, without a change of place (the movement
of the radial head on the capitulum of the humerus, of the atlas on the
axis or the talus on the calcaneal ligamentous pivot). The axis can also
be situated outside the bone and the rotation is joined by a change of
place, as in the supination and the pronation of the hand.
 circumduction results from the successive execution of the previous
movements, the free limbs describing a cone with the top at the level
of the joint and their extremity a circle.
Articular lead designates not only the way and direction of movement, but also
its scope. It can be determined by the articular surfaces, as in the case of the hip joint,
where it is a bony lead. At other times, the scope, way and the direction of movement
are owed to the ligaments. This is a ligamentous lead, which most often has a single
degree of freedom on a single plane and around a single axis of movement (for
instance the joint of the knee). Muscular lead is the third possibility, in which the
movements of large joints are limited exclusively by the action of periarticular
muscles. These joints generally have several axes, as the scope of the movement is
greater in those with a muscular lead, even if they have the same degrees of freedom.
Thus, although the joints of the hip and of the shoulder have the same degrees of
freedom (three axes), the scope of the movements is more reduced with the former,
the one with a bony lead, in comparison with the joint of the shoulder, with a muscular
lead.
According to the position of the segments of the limbs, we distinguish the
following movements:
- flexion is the movement through which two adjoining segments of a limb
approach each other and the angle of the joint diminishes.
- extension is the contrary movement, through which the respective
segments draw away up to 180o or above. Thanks to the rotation of the
limbs in the course of their development to adapt to orthostatism, their
flexor and extensor sides have inverted positions. At the higher limbs, the
17
flexor side looks towards the front, while at the lower limbs it is oriented
towards the back. The other way around, the extensor side at the higher
limbs is posterior and anterior at the lower limbs.
- pronation is the complex rotation movement of the arm and forearm,
through which the thumb approaches the body.
- supination is the inverted movement, of removing the thumb from the
body through rotation.
The muscles and the annexed anatomical formations are studied by myology.
They are the active component of the locomotor apparatus, which act upon the bones
(the passive component), within the limits provided by the anatomic configuration of
their articular surfaces. According to the number of joints they pass over, the muscles
are: uniarticular (the short muscles), biarticular (they pass over two joints) or
polyarticular (the long muscles, which pass over several joints). According to their
role, the skeletal muscles are divided into: extensors, flexors, abductors, adductors and
rotators.
A B C D
Fig. 12. Types of muscles, depending on the mode of placement

of the fascia as to the tendons.
The extensor muscles are those that during contraction, by acting on the joint,
increase the angle between the joining bones, removing their extremities. The flexor
muscles decrease the articular angle, approaching the extremities. The abductor
muscles remove the extremities from the mid-sagittal plane. This movement is usually
executed by the higher limbs. With animals, the forelimbs execute abduction at the
moment of landing on the ground, in order to increase the supporting surface, or when
the animal wants to change its centre of gravity from one limb to another. The
adductor muscles have an inverted action to the abductor ones, approaching the bones
to the mid-sagittal plane, sometimes surpassing it by changing the place of that
18
extremity to the opposite side of the body. The rotator muscles determine rotating
movements through contraction, acting upon pivot joints.
The properties of muscles are excitability, contractibility, elasticity and tonicity.
Their functional states result from these qualities:
 contraction – the moment of action, when, thanks to excitability,
muscles respond to the order arrived from the brain through the motor
nerves by shortening (approaching the extremities) and thickening the
fibres (enlarging the transversal diameter). Muscles never push
insertions, removing the extremities.
 relaxation – the state of inactivity and sometimes, when the points of
insertion are placed beyond the state of inactivity thanks to elasticity,
dystonia appears.
Muscular tonus is a state of semi-contraction, a permanent tension of the
muscles, which ensures the rest balance of the body segments. This modifies with age
and differs towards hypertonia or hypotonia. Even with the same person, the tonus
varies also depending on their positive or negative psychological state.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7
Fig. 13. Types of muscles classified according to their shape.
The ratio between the direction of the muscular fibres and the direction of the
tendinous axis, as well as the way in which continuity is established between the
muscular and the tendinous portion, enables the visual systematisation of the muscles.
According to the placement of the fascicles as to the tendons, the muscles can have
parallelly (A) placed fibres, continuing the direction of the tendon, as with the
sartorius muscle or the wide muscles of the abdomen. At the majority of muscles,
19
however, especially at the force ones, like the right anterior, the muscular fascicles are
inserted featherlike (D), i.e. obliquely, in parallel, on both sides of a central tendon.
More rarely, these are inserted semi-featherlike (C), on one side of the tendon.
So that a muscle, during contraction, can execute mechanical work it is
necessary to be inserted through its tendinous or aponeurotic extremities on at least
two different cartilaginous or ligamental bony pieces, tied in mobile fashion between
them, passing over the respective joint. The two fixing heads of the muscle do not
change place equally, one of them remaining more or less fixed. The extremity which,
by approaching the other, involves a larger change of place of the bone, shall be called
a mobile insertion or simply insertion (insertio), while the other shall be called fixed
insertion or origin (origo). Usually, the origin is situated closer to the root of the
limbs, so proximally, while the insertion distally. In case there are several origin
heads, according to their number the muscles are called biceps (with two origins),
triceps (with three origins) or quadriceps (with four origins).
Fig. 14. Michelangelo - ecorche (left); Gottfried Bammes – ecorche (right)

The action of the muscles is made in groups or chains. The ones that provoke the same
movement are agonists or synergic. Some provide force and scope, while others
provide the fine tuning, realising muscular synergy. The muscles that act contrarily are
antagonists: the brachial biceps, flexor of the elbow  the brachial triceps, extensor.
According to their form, the muscles are classified as:
- long, found especially in the limbs where they can be spindle-shaped
(1), with the fibres drawn to the heads, like the brachial biceps (4)
- short, when their body is interrupted and divided into two portions
through an intermediate tendon, they are called digastric (7).
20
- the orbicularis are circular and surround cavities (the orbicularis of the
mouth and of the eye).
- the flat muscles can be found at the level of the trunk, where their fibres
can be arranged in a fan (the pectoral) or contribute to the formation of the
walls of the great cavities, like the flat muscles of the abdomen (the
external oblique – 5). Sometimes there are several types of aponeurotic
flattening, fibrous transversal bands which divide the muscle in several
segments, resulting in a polygastric aspect (the abdominal rights – 6)
The fibrous and inextensible membranes, which cover their body on the
exterior, developed as a consequence of the pressures and friction exercised during
muscular contraction, are called fasciae. They play a very important role from a
biomechanical point of view, constituting veritable fibrous tunnels, which channel the
force of action in a single direction. Through their insertions on the neighbouring bony
surfaces, the fasciae restrain the muscular masses and influence their exterior aspect,
dimming the intermuscular spaces and rounding the form of the region.
Fig. 15. Jean-Antoine Houdon, ecorche called The Fying Man,

National Gallery of Art,Washington D.C.
The enduring extremities through which the muscles are inserted onto the bone
are called tendons when they are cylindrical (at the long muscles) and aponeuroses
when they are flattened (at the flat muscles). When a tendon is subjected to a sliding
and pressure force and changes its direction passing over a bony prominence, it can
change its structure, widening and becoming encrusted with fibre-cartilage or even
becoming ossified. In this way the knee-cap (patella) appeared in humans, and in
horses the knee-cap and the sesamoidean bones. Beside the skeletal muscles, of great
anatomic and artistic interest are the skin or cutaneous ones. These are muscles of
21
mimics, localised especially on the face, where they are hooked with only one end by
the skeleton of the head and with the other on the profound side of the skin of the face,
on which they act. In this category there are also classified the orbicularis of the lips
and of the eyes, which are not inserted at all on the skeleton, being situated in the
thickness of the skin of the face.
The ecorche (fr. écorché) is a statue representing only the skeleton, joints and
muscles of a man or of an animal, without skin and adipose tissue. The method of the
ecorche is one of the oldest ways of studying artistic anatomy and morphology and
fulfils a mnemotechnic function, satisfying young artists’ wish for a summary.
Among the authors of classical ecorches there stand out: Michelangelo, with a
character in a dramatic attitude specific to the artist, Baccio Bandinelli, who
immortalises in his ecorche a daring dance movement with support on only one leg,
the French sculptors Antoine Houdon and Edme Bouchardon (the author of an artistic
anatomy treatise) and the German Gottfried Bammes, the author of a very well-known
and well illustrated treatise of artistic anatomy.
Fig. 16. Document photograph with a view from student Constantin Brâncuşi’s
workshop (there is also a smaller view of Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Flying Man). The ecorche
(1901-1902), after Antinous’s attitude (or Hermes from the Capitoline Museums in Rome),
demonstrates the seriousness of this training in classical sculpture.
The ecorche created by Constantin Brâncuși towards the end of his artistic
training at the Fine Arts Academy in Bucharest is one of the most accomplished
samples in this genre. The student Brâncuși remarked the following about his teacher
of artistic anatomy, Dimitrie Gerota (1867 – 1939), the initiator and the scientific
supervisor of the work: the seriousness and punctuality with which he fulfilled his
didactic tasks, the richness of his iconographic documentation, his clear and not in
the least pedantic lectures, always joined by drawings in coloured chalk that he made
22
on the blackboard while speaking, the construction of the region or of the

apparatuses, made departing from simple to complex, charmed students and forced
them to follow this construction, that each one was tempted to copy in their notebooks,
drawing at the same time as the teacher, without this being a mandatory task.
Commenting on this piece, D. Hăulică assembles a history of the meanings
that the interpretation of human anatomy in the art of the world acquires: A saint can
be found in the fresco of Michelangelo’s Doomsday. Bartholomeus, according to
legend flayed alive, who reaches towards Christ a type of sack hanging lamentably,
which is his own skin. However, the skinned man bears the features of Michelangelo
himself, it is one of his most plausible portraits. Therefore the cruellest observation
means there subjective pain, pathetic testimony. With Brâncuși, this cruelty of
anatomic observation is objective, absolutely impersonal, it sets out not to say
anything about the artist’s soul or, rather, subjects its will to the prestige of anatomy
through this applied study, obviously a work with a didactic purpose.
Fig. 16. Constantin Brancusi - ecorche
Benefiting from his teacher’s support, Brâncuși managed to multiply his work
in four copies.
The first two belonged one to the National Fine Arts School (passed then over
to the patrimony of the University of Medicine in Bucharest and became a point of
attraction for visitors) and one to professor Gerota, who initially kept the ecorche in
his anatomy museum and then donated it to the “Carol I” College in Craiova, a sign of
an emotional connection to the high-school and the town they had both sometime
graduated and left.
23
The casting in Bucharest had been ordered as early as 1865 by Th. Aman
together with other materials with which the then principal wanted to endow the Fine
Arts School. The four copies kept until nowadays are made up coloured gypsum, have
the dimensions in cm.: 177 x 52 x 32, and the inscriptions:
I. The attitude of the classical Antinous, The anatomy of the superficial muscles
Processed after nature by prof. D. Gerota, Ph.D. and C. Brâncuși 1902
II. Processed after nature by prof. D. Gerota, Ph.D. and C. Brâncuși 1902
III. The Collection of the Anatomy Museum of the Medical and Pharmaceutical
Institute Iași
IV. The Collection of the Museum of Anatomical Preparations, Department of
Medicine Cluj
Fig. 18. Gh. Ghiţescu – ecorche

Master Hegel (young Brâncuși’s sculpture teacher) stated about the ecorche:
after a few weeks, Constantin was modelling the muscles using the illustrations of a
medical book, so that the teacher would not be able to find any mistake. The statue
resembled a skinned, very well-outlined man, a true copy of reality. It was not
necessary to dress it in skin; anyone could well imagine it.
Brâncuși himself took pride in his work of youth, which he photographed from
all angles. When he asked an old friend: what does the statue tell you when you look at
it? he answers: It shows me how perfectly the muscles are laid out, the ones that can
24
be seen when the skin is taken away. It is exactly what I intended to represent,
Brâncuși confessed. He would have wanted to see it again shortly before dying. To
this end, a copy was sent to Paris in 1956.
Fig. 19. Prof.dr. Vasile Coţofan – Ecorche of a horse jibbing

The laboratory of artistic anatomy of the “George Enescu” University of Arts Iaşi
As a consequence of students’ suggestions, who claimed that their former
colleague’s work could serve in secondary and tertiary schools for the study of
anatomy, The Society of Fine Arts Students requested the minister of Public Education
and the Cults, Spiru Haret, to order that all schools be endowed with the ecorche,
which was meant to ease the understanding of man’s anatomical forms. Not only that
the request received a favourable resolution, but several pieces were made out of
gypsum and distributed in the country, considered as being among the most
accomplished samples in the genre of ecorche after an ancient model, out of which
several have been kept until nowadays.
Impressive through the sobriety of forms and the naturalness of movement is
also the ecorche made by prof. Gheorghe Nițescu, Ph.D. at the Academy of Fine Arts
in Bucharest.
A remarkable Romanian contribution in the field of contemporary animal
artistic anatomy is represented by professor Doctor Honoris Causa Vasile Coțofan’s
research. Endowed with definite qualities as a drawer and sculptor but also with
rigurous knowledge of comparative anatomy, he made numerous ecorches (man,
horse, marten, etc.) during his didactic and artistic career.
25
Before a portrait, even the model’s parents and

friends must be amazed at what the
painter was able to see.
Leonardo da Vinci
THE ARTISTIC ANATOMY OF THE HEAD
The anatomy and morphology of the cranial base and vault
The skeleton of the head (the cranium) is formed out of the cranial box or the
neuro-cranium, situated in the posterosuperior region, and the facial massif (the face)
or the viscerocranium, situated in the anteroinferior region. This is more withdrawn
through the reduction of the masticatory apparatus (dental arches and canines) and
placed under the neuro-cranium, which is much better developed and arched due to
the expansion of the encephalus. The neuro-cranium is built out of flat cranial bones
(ossa cranii), tightly closed between them through immobile joints called sutures. It is
formed out of an ovoid bulkier on the posterior side, called the cranial vault (calvaria)
and the base of the cranium, the plane laid on the first vertrebra of the cervical
column, the atlas. Of anatomic and artistic interest are the frontal, the occipital, the
parietals and the temporal bones.
The frontal (os frontale) is median, forms the anterior pole of the cranium and
contributes to the roof of the nasal and orbital cavities through its horizontal part, as
its vertical one contributes to the calvaria. The horizontal portion is built medianly out
of the nasal part (pars nasalis), which is joined inferiorly with the two nasal bones.
Laterally to it can be found the orbital parts (pars orbitalis), which form the vaults of
the eye sockets. These continue laterally with the zygomatic process (processus
zygomaticus) of the frontal, which is joined with the zygomatic bone (the malar bone),
and internally it is continued with the internal orbital process, which is joined with
the superior jaw bone. The vertical portion, the scale (squama frontalis) presents
superiorly and laterally, on each side of the median line, the frontal bossae (tuber
frontale). Laterally and posteriorly to these, the frontal plane changes it orientation,
becoming lateral after a ridge which departs upwardly from the end of the eyebrow,
called the temporal line (linea temporalis) of the frontal. Above the nasal part there is
a prominence called the median bossa or the glabella, an important anatomic and
artistic point of reference. Laterally to it can be found two transversal, ovalar
prominences called superciliary arches (arcus superciliaris) or the eyebrow bossae,
more developed in the human male.
26
The parietals (ossa parietale) belong only to the calvaria and complete the
cranial vault superiorly, being placed above the temporals. The two parietals are
joined superiorly between them through the mid-sagittal suture, anteriorly with the
frontal through the coronal suture, posteriorly with the occipital through the lambdoid
suture and inferiorly with the temporals through the scaly sutures. The former three
sutures are dented, while the latter scaly. Their external side (facies externa) is
convex, presenting the rounded prominence of the parietal bossae (tuber parietale),
corresponding to the two eurion points, where the maximum width of the neuro-
cranium is measured. The points of morphological reference mark exactly the places
where we have to measure the head, being determined by its characteristic
construction.
11
1
2 1 2 1a 1c
1b
4 7
4
7
4a
3 6 6
5
4b 4d 5a
4c
8
8
Fig. 20. 1- the frontal, 1a – the frontal bossa, 1b – the eyebrow bossa, 1c – the
temporal line of the frontal, 2 – the parietal, 3- the occipital, 4- the temporal, 4a- the stony
portion of the temporal, 4b- the mastoid process of the temporal, 4c- the external auditory
canal, 4d- the condyle of the mandible, 5- the superior jaw (maxila), 5a- the anterior nasal
spine, 6- the malar (zygomatic) bone, 7-the nasal, 8-the body of the mandible (inferior jaw),
9-the coronal suture, 11- the lambdoid suture
The occipital (os occipitale) is odd and median, forming the posterior pole of
the neuro-cranium. It is formed, like the frontal and the temporals, out of a vertical
part or the scale (squama occipitalis) and a horizontal one, which takes part in the
construction of the base of the cranium. Here is the occipital hole, the place where the
neuro-cranium communicates with the vertebral channel. Outside of and a little before
27
it there are two semicylindrical articular reliefs called occipital condyles (condyles
occipitalis). These are joined with the glenoid cavities of the first cervical vertebra,
atlas. At the level of the scale, behind the occipital hole, can be found a rough surface,
centred by the external occipital protuberance (protuberantia occipitalis externa),
from which there depart the superior occipital lines (linea occipitalis superior).
Fig. 21. The vault and the base of the cranium 3a- the external occipital
protuberance, 3b -superior occipital line, 3c- rough surface of insertion of the nape muscles,
3d- the occipital hole, 3e- the condyles of the occipital, 4b – the mastoid process, 4e- the
glenoid cavity of the temporal (for joining with the condyle of the mandible), 9- the coronal
suture, 10 – the mid-sagittal suture, 11- the lambdoid suture
These mark the posterior limit between head and neck (nape). On them are inserted
the superficial muscles of the nape (the descending trapezius) and laterally – the
sternocleidomastoidian. Higher up, the point of tangecy of the posterior pole of the
neuro-cranium with the vertical plane is called opisthocranion, the most posterior
point of reference of the head.
28
Fig. 22. The main morphologically craniometric points are: g-glabella, op-
opisthocranion, eu-eurion, zy-zygion, go-gonion, v-vertex, gn-gnation. n-nasion, ns-
nasospinale, pr-prosthion, po-porion
Fig. 23. The main diametres of the cranium -frontal: 1-the width of the neuro-
cranium (eu-eu), 3- the width of the superior floor of the face, on the zygomatic arches (zy-
zy), 5- the width of the inferior floor of the face, on the angles of the mandible (go-go) -
laterally: 1-the length of the neuro-cranium (glabella-opisthocranion) (after Ghițescu)
29
The general shape of the head is determined by the cranium through its
architectonic function but also through its artistic function, of external modelling,
associated to the muscles of the face in their various forms of mimics. The width,
measured between the two eurion points is more constant.
The crania at which the maximum length (measured anteriorly from the
glabella to the posterior opisthocranion point) is almost equal to the maximum width
(measured on the parietal bossae between the two eurion points) are short or brevi-
morphic crania. They can be found more frequently in short, brevi-morphic women
and men. When the anteroposterior diametre is flatly longer than the width, the
cranium is long or dolichomorphic.
Fig. 24. Left: short (brevi-morhic) head with a flat occipital. The head of
Octavian’s statue, British Museum, 30 BC. Right: long (dolichomorphic) head, with a
curved occipital. The auricle centres the length of the cranium. Marcus Aurelius’s
portrait, 170-180 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
The temporals (ossa temporale) are pair bones situated on the lateral and
inferior sides of the cranium. They are built out of a vertical, scaly portion, which
contributes to the construction of the calvaria, and a horizontal, stony, massive
portion, marked by the mastoid process. The anatomical elements on its external side
are centred by the external auditory canal. Anteriorly and a bit higher up can be found
the zygomatic process (processus zygomaticus) of the temporal, which is joined with
the zygomatic bone, forming the zygomatic arch. Under this and before the auditory
canal, on the inferior side, can be found the glenoid cavity of the temporal, which is
joined with the condyle of the mandible, forming the temporo-mandibular joint.
The scaly portion (pars squamosa) has a circular form and presents laterally the
smooth temporal side (facies temporalis), part of the temporal fossa, where the
30
temporal muscle is inserted. It is joined through the scaly suture (sutura squamosa)
superiorly with the parietals, anteriorly with the frontal, posteriorly with the occipital.
The anatomy and morphology of the face

The viscerocranium or the face is formed out of the facial bones (ossa
faciei). They are grouped around the superior jaw, the inferior one being made up of
the single mobile bone of the head, the mandible. The hyoid can be found in the
thickness of the muscles of the neck, being isolated from the other bones of the
skeleton. In contrast to the neuro-cranium, the face is built very unevenly, its
prominences delineating important cavities.
The superior jaw (maxilla) is the median piece, situated in the centre of
the face. Practically, the entire facial massif is built on it and it contributes decidedly
to delineating the orbital, nasal and mouth cavities. The jaw is joined superiorly with
the two nasal bones and with the frontal, laterally with the zygomatic bones and
inferiorly its semicylindrical form is finished with the alveolar edge in which the teeth
which form the superior dental arch are implanted.
The orbital cavities or the eye sockets (orbita) are placed on both sides of
the nasal bones. They have a quadrilateral opening, oriented forwards and laterally
and rounded angles. The nasal cavities (cavum nasi) form the opening of the nasal pits
in the form of an upside-down heart, called the pyriform aperture (apertura
piriformis). At its base can be found the anterior nasal spine or the subnasale point, a
very important anatomic and artistic mark. The nasal bones (ossa nasale) are small,
quadrilateral, pair bones and build the root of the nose, which on the living is
completed by the cartilage of the lobe of the nose. They are joined superiorly with the
frontal and medianly between themselves. Their size, form and especially their
inclination determine the right, concave or convex character of the profile.
The zygomatics (ossa zygomatica), flat pair bones, make up the cheek
bones, situated on the lateral sides of the face. Out of their bodies three processes
come off: the frontal process (processus frontalis), through which they are joined with
the frontal, delineating externally the eye socket, the orbital process (processus
orbitalis), through which they are joined with the maxilla and the temporal process
(processus temporalis), oriented posteriorly and joined with the zygomatic process of
the temporal, with which it forms the zygomatic arch, a bridge which unites the face
with the base of the neuro-cranium.
The inferior jaw or the mandible (mandibula) is also situated medianly

but under the superior one. Anteriorly can be found the body (corpus mandibulae), in
the form of a triangular prism, whose inferior edge, the mental symphysis, determines
the form of the chin through the median line which ends inferiorly in the gnation
point. On the lateral sides there appears the oblique line of the mandible, on which the
muscles are inserted, which lower the ends and the central part of the inferior lip. The
mandible presents the alveolar ridge, in which the inferior dental arch, corresponding
to the superior one, is formed through the implantation of the teeth. The teeth, eight on
31
each symmetrical half of the arch, are: two incisors, a canine, two premolars, and
three molars.
NEURO-CRANIUM
The frontal bone
The temporal pit
The temporal bone
The eye socket
The nasal cavity

VISCEROCRANIUM
The zygomatic bone
The jaw bone
The mandible
The mental
protuberance
Fig. 25. The cranium
The dental arches have a role in building the semicylindrical form on which the arched outline
of the mouth and of the proportions of the inferior floor of the face is applied. Posteriorly are the
branches of the mandible (ramus mandibulae), two quadrilateral blades oriented
obliquely upwards and posteriorly, which unite with the body, forming the angle of
the mandible or the gonial. Their superior edge presents the coronoid process
(processus coronoideus), the anterior, sharp relief on which the temporal muscle is
inserted distally. Behind an incisure can be found the condyle of the mandible
(processus condylaris), a posterior, semicylindrical relief, which is joined with the
glenoid cavity of the temporal, resulting in the temporomandibular joint (articulatio
temporo-mandibularis). This joint, the only mobile one in the anatomy of the head,
allows the mastication movements: up to downwards and the other way around,
projection forwards and backwards (propulsion and retropulsion) and laterality
32
movements (from left to right). The head is separated from the neck through a line that
begins posteriorly through the superior, mastoid, occipital line, a part of the inferior
edge of the zygomatic arch, the posterior edge of the branch of the mandible and the
inferior edge of its body. Regarded as a whole, it has an ovoidal form, being bulkier at
the level of the parietals and narrower towards the chin. Important reference points are
the anterior nasal spine (the ns-nasospinale point), the root of the nose (n-nasion), the
tangent to the superior incisors (pr-prosthion) and the external auditory canal (po-
porion).
8b 8c
8b
8a 8a
8d 8d
8e
8e
8a
8a
8b
8d 8c
8b
8d
8e 8e
Fig. 26. The mandible. 8 – the mandible (the inferior jaw), a-the condyle of the mandible, b-
the coronoid process, c- the incisure of the branch of the mandible, d- the angle of the
mandible (gonion), e- the gnation artistic point
Campere’s facial angle is given by the tangent to the glabella and the incisors and the
proximatively horizontal line, which passes through the anterior nasal spine and the
external auditory canal. It characterises the development of the neuro-cranium as to
o
the viscerocranium. In
8d general, in real individuals, this is smaller than 90 . The ancient
Greeks gave gods’ heads a facial angle of 90o and those of fauns one under 70o.
33
8e
The height of the face is measured form the gnation, the low point of the
chin, to the trichion, the line of implantation of the hair of the forehead. The width of
the superior floor of the face is taken on the zygomatic arches, between the zygion
points. The maximum width of the inferior floor of the face is taken between the two
gonion points.
Fig. 27 Campere’s facial angle. Comparative drawing of the profiles of a

European and an African. 4-the angle of Campere’s facial profile between the vertical – the
tangent to the glabella (g) and the incisors (pr-prosthion) and the OAE horizontal, which
passes through ns-nasospinale and po-porion.
The height of the head is taken between gnation, the lowest point on the mandible, and
vertex, the highest point, and is contained in the size 7.5-8 times. According to the
harmony of bodily construction and the concordance of parts, a massive and rocky
brevi-morphic cranium is associated to a wide face and is placed on a powerful and
34
brevi-morphic body, whereas a dolichomorphic cranium is associated with a

dolichomorphic size and a wide face.
Fig. 28. A tall and narrow face, usually associated to a long cranium and a
dolichomorphic morphological type; the wide face, usually associated to a short cranium and
a brevi-morphic morphological type
Fig. 29. The associating variants of transversal diameters provide different aspect: hexagon
(A) or trapezium (B, C).
35
Fig. 30. Tall head, the auricle is under the half of the cranium. Republican Roman art,
Rome (left); short head, the auricle centres the height of the cranium. Republican Roman art,
Berlin (right).
Fig. 31. Right profile and retracted chin. Republican Roman art, Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna; face with an inclined profile and a prominent mandible (prognathism).
Achenaten, Egyptian art.
36
The main morphological elements of the face are:
The eye, from a morphological point of view, is a spheroidal prominence laid in a

quadrilateral cavity with rounded tops: the eye socket. The superior side of the eye socket is
better set off. The ocular globe has a more swollen out anterior side formed out of the
transparent cornea, which can be seen on the exterior with a part of the sclera (the white of
the eye). Through the transparent cornea, which is always a little damp, the iris can be seen
on the inside with the black (dark) pupilar orifice at its centre. The iris provides the colour of
the eyes.
Fig. 32
The ocular globe is covered by the two eyelids. Each eyelid is formed out of
two parts: the exterior, orbital one, sticks onto the superior or inferior edge of the eye
socket and the interior, palpebral, one covers the eye. It is the eyelid proper, superior
and inferior, separated from the first parts through the superior palpebral and inferior
palpebral grooves. Each eyelid has a free edge, which delineates superiorly and
inferiorly the opening of the eye or the palpebral slot. The free edges have long hairs,
which form the eyelashes and unite at the extremities, forming the internal, rounded,
angle and the external, more acute one, situated on a more posterior plane.
The eyebrow can be found on the corresponding eyebrow bossa. The

internal, thicker part is called the head of the eyebrow, the middle one is the body and
the external one the tail. Its form is more or less arched or straight.
The nose has the form of a pyramid with the base downwards, at the level of
the wings of the nostrils, and the apex upwards, towards the forehead, at the root of
the nose. It is built on a hard part, the nasal bones, to which the nasal cartilages are
attached, forming the rounded and elastic lobule. The root of the nose is separated
from the forehead through the nasofrontal groove and the wings are limited posteriorly
37
by the beginning of the nasolabial grooves. The orifices of the nostrils are oriented
obliquely forwards and internally. They are separated by a septum, which recedes a bit
lower than the wings of the nose, continuing inferiorly with the vertical median
groove of the superior lip.
The ear is formed out of an oval-shaped auricle, with the large axis
obliquely downwards and forwards, positioned at the level of the horizontals which
delineate the nose superiorly and inferiorly. The external curve, called helix, begins
anteriorly in the concha of the ear and after an oval itinerary it ends with the lobule of
the ear.
Helix
Fossa
triangularis
Antihelix
Concha
Tragus
Antitragus
Lobe
Fig. 33
The concha is limited posteriorly by the antihelix, a curved relief, placed

between it and the helix, which bifurcates upwards, forming the fossa triangularis
between the two branches. Below it ends with a relief called antitragus. Before it,
another relief called tragus corresponds to the external auditory canal, found at the
bottom of the concha. Between the tragus and the antitragus there is a groove open
towards the concha.
The cheek is the space delineated anteriorly by the nose and the chin and
posteriorly by the temples. Its most prominent part is the level of the zygomatic arches
and below the masseter muscle, diminishing in relief in front of the ear. Sometimes a
variable depression forms anteriorly to the masseter and below the cheek bone. The
nasolabial groove separates it from the nose and the mouth. It is convex in young
people, women and children and concave in old people.
38
The mouth and the lips have as a semicylindrical floor the convexity of
the dental arches, on which the orbicularis of the lips determines the shape of the
mouth. The upper lip is separated from the cheek through the nasolabial groove and
comes out in bolder relief, being pushed by the arcade of the superior jaw. It presents
medianly the relief of the tubercle of the upper lip, continued superiorly and vertically
through the subnasal groove.
Fig. 34
Thus, the upper lip has double arching and covers the lower lip. The latter has a
unique curve under which there can be found the shallower transversal mento-labial
groove, which separates it from the chin. The edge of the lips is the line where the
fleshier, reddish part is continued with the skin. The ends of the lips are called
commissures. The chin is a rounded or polyhedric relief due to the form of the body of
the mandible of triangular prism with the base inferiorly. Sometimes it presents a
small pit called mental fossa.
The face is divided vertically in three equal parts: 1 – from the chin to the base
of the nose, 2 – the height of the nose, 3 – the height of the forehead, from the root of
39
the nose to the trichion (the implantation line of the hair). From here to high up, at the
vertex, another segment is added to the preceding ones, which, however, is not part of
the face. This horizontal, divided in five equal parts, provides the length of the eyes,
found in the segments 2 and 4. In a well-proportioned face, the width of the nose is
equal to the length of the eye and the length of the mouth is one-and-a-half eye lengths
and is equal to the distance from the mouth-opening line to the inferior edge of the
chin. The width of the head (the eurion-eurion distance) is equal to the height of the
face (gnation-trichion), a proportion figured by Dürer through a square.
Fig. 35. The proportions of the head expressed through drawing by Dürer
The proportions of the head expressed through drawing by Leondardo da
Vinci.
Leonardo’s interesting notes show that the face also forms a slightly
smaller square: the width of the superior floor of the face, between the zygion points,
is equal to the distance from the eyebrow to the inferior edge of the chin and the
distance between the external angles of the eyes is equal to the distance from the root
of the nose to the superior edge of the chin. Establishing the proportions of the head
captures its forms in dimensional relations and capitalises on them morphologically,
becoming a simple practical method of work, easy to apply in art. However, it goes
around what is characteristic to the individual and approaches an ideal statistical
average. Expressed in proportions, the shape of the head is a schematic indication of
the real aspect, infinitely differentiated and nuanced, allowing for the sense of
observation and direct analysis. However, these proportions build a general
framework, which the artist references, noticing how much and in what way the
particular features of every model depart from it.
40
The muscles of the head (musculi capitis) are classified according to their
anatomic characteristics and main action in the masticatory muscles of the mandible
and the skin (cutaneous) muscles or of the mimics. With the exception of the occipital
muscle, all can be found on the anterior side, which is why they are also called facial
muscles. The masticatory muscles are the temporal and the masseter.
The temporal (temporalis) is the most powerful masticatory muscle and

occupies the temporal pit, inserting itself in a shape of a fan onto the scale of the
temporal, up to the temporal line of the frontal, parietal and occipital and on the
profound side of the temporal fascia. Its fibres converge in a tendon, which passes
under the zygomatic arch and then inserts itself onto the coronoid process of the
mandible.
The masseter (masseter) is a powerful, quadrilateral and thin muscle,

situated on the external side of the vertical branch of the mandible. It comes from the
inferior edge of the zygomatic arch and from the zygomatic (the malar bone) and goes
to the angle of the mandible (gonion). This muscle comes out in very bold relief in
contraction, thus contributing to the threating expression through a more angular
aspect. Due to its volume and superficial position, on the living it appears as the most
characteristic in mastication, although the temporal is stronger. Both raise the
mandible, applying it powerfully onto the superior jaw.
The muscles of the mimics, as skin muscles, are inserted with one end
onto the bones of the face and with the other on the profound side of the skin or they
are situated only in the thickness of the skin, like the orbicularis. In the muscles of the
mimics, both their relief and, maybe more so, the folds they produce and which are
always perpendicular onto the direction of the muscular fibres are important. They
move the skin of the face under the leadership of the nervous system and impress
various expressions on it, becoming an instrument for the exteriorisation of
psychological states.
The following skin muscles can be found in the region of the forehead and
the eyes:
- The occipitofrontalis (occipitofrontalis), formed out of two muscular portions,
between which there lies the galea aponeurotica as a very thick intermediate
membrane. The frontal portions (venter frontalis) are better developed than the
occipital one (venter occipitalis) and have a quadrilateral shape, being situated on the
anterior side of the cranial vault, symmetrically above the eyebrow. Their fascicles go
vertically downwards and end on the profound side of the skin of the eyebrow and
intereyebrow region. As a whole, the occipitofrontalis has a single bony insertion,
backwards, on the occipital, and a single cutaneous insertion in the front. It produces
horizontal wrinkles on the forehead in the expression of exterior attention,
amazement, surprise.
- the orbicularis of the eye (orbicularis oculi) is situated in the thickness of the eyelids
and on the circumference of the eye socket. It is formed out of the portions: palpebral,
found in the thickness of the eyelids, which it closes, and orbital, laid peripherally
41
outside the former, as its profound side inserts itself onto the circumference of the eye
socket. When the eye is open, the palpebral portions slide partly under the orbital
ones, as the superior palpebral and the inferior palpebral grooves are formed in the
deep places of separation between the two.
Frontal
Frontal
Temporal
Temporal
Orbicularis
oculi
Occipito-
Occipito-
frontalis
frontalis
Orbicularis
Masseter
Masseter oris
Trapezium
Trapezium Sternocleido-
Sternocleido-
mastoidian
mastoidian
Fig. 36. The muscles of the head
The palpebral portion closes the eye and the orbital one lowers the
eyebrow and smoothens the skin of the forehead by erasing the wrinkles created by
the frontal, its antagonist. The orbicularis provides the eyebrow with horizontality and
a slight convex curve inferiorly (the thinker’s wrinkles), being the muscle of inner
attention, of profound thinking, meditation and reflection.
- the corrugator of the eyebrow (corrugator supercilii) leaves from the medial
portion of the eye socket, as its fascicles go upwards and laterally on the
profound side of the skin of the middle portion of the eyebrow. It pulls the
middle of the eyebrow medially and downwards and thus raises their
internal extremities, between which the skin in the region of the glabella
42
forms two profound vertical wrinkles, specific to the mimics of pain. A

convincing example to this end is the expression of Laocoon’s face.
The frontal Temporal

Orbicularis oculi
Lateral brow depressor
The orbicularis of
The pyramidal the eyelids
Elevator proper of The transversal of the nose
the upper lip
Common elevator of Canine
the upper lip and of The small zygomatic
the wing of the nose The large zygomatic
The buccinator The masseter
Orbicularis oris
The triangular of The square of the
the lip chin
The skin muscle of

the neck
Fig. 37. Mimic muscles
- the procerus muscle (procerus) can be found up, at the root of the nose, and its
origin is on the nasal bones. From here, its fibres go vertically on the profound side of
the skin of the glabella. It is the antagonist of the frontal, lowering the skin of the
intereyebrow region. It produces horizontal wrinkles at the root of the nose,
transversal between the internal extremities of the eyebrows, realising the expression
of gravity, threat, even aggression.
In the region of the mouth there are two muscular systems. The central system,
formed out of circular fascicles, constitutes the orbicularis of the mouth (orbicularis oris),
placed like an ellipsis around it. This lies in the thickness of the lips and it closes the mouth
through the contraction of the middle, labial portion (pars labialis). Through the marginal
portion (pars marginalis), it projects it outwardly, providing the mimic of doubt and
aggressiveness.
43
The much more complex peripheral system is formed out of numerous radial
fascicles. They are dilators of the mouth and of the lips, impressing on them the most
various forms and mimic movements. The following muscles are part of this second
system:
Fig. 38. 1- the occipitofrontal, 2- the frontal, 3 – the orbicularis of the eye (orbital
portion), 4- the orbicularis of the eye (palpebral portion) and higher, the corrugator of the
eyebrow, 5- procerus, 6- the orbicularis of the mouth, 7b- the elevator of the upper lip, 7c- the
small zygomatic, 8- the elevator of the angle of the mouth, 9- the large zygomatic, 10- risorius,
11- the depressor of the angle of the mouth, 12- the depressor of the lower lip, 13- the mental,
14- the buccinator, 15- the masseter, 16- the temporal
- the buccinator (buccinator) is the widest and most powerful of the skin
muscles of the mouth, lying on a more profound plane than the others. It is
situated on the sides of the mouth, in the thickness of the cheeks.
Posteriorly it sticks on both jaws, from where its fibres go horizontally
towards the commissures of the mouth. In contraction it removes them,
approaching the lips, it pressures the air and expels it under pressure when
whistling or when playing wind instruments. Out of this reason it is also
called the trumpeters’ muscle. It has a mimic action both in laughing and
44
in crying, depending on the muscles with which it acts on the commissure

of the lips.
- the elevator of the upper lip (levator labii superioris) is inserted on the
anterior side of the body of the maxilla, it is quadrilateral and ends on the
skin of the upper lip, in the central area, which it elevates, uncovering the
teeth. It thus participates in the mimics of threat, displeasure and
indisposition, also intervening in crying.
- the large zygomatic (zygomaticus major) is situated superficially, in the
central region of the cheek and is inserted on the lateral side of the
zygomatic bone, from where it goes downwards and medially, towards the
commissure of the mouth above the buccinator. It pulls the commissures
of the mouth upwards and laterally. It expresses laughter and it gives the
mouth a curved shape, concave upwards.
- the small zygomatic (zygomaticus minor) also sticks onto the zygomatic
bone, internally as to the preceding one, it descends parallelly to that,
obliquely to the skin of the upper lip, which it raises expressing the smile,
together with the risorius (risorius) muscle and the elevator of the angle of
the mouth (levator anguli oris).
- the depressor of the angle of the mouth (depressor anguli oris) has a
triangular shape, with the base inserting on the oblique line of the
mandible and the apex on the commissure of the mouth, which it lowers,
rendering it a curved shape, concave downwards. It pulls the nasolabial
groove downwards, renders it rectilinear and expresses sadness, disgust
and crying.
- the depressor of the lower lip (depressor labii inferioris) lies under and
medially as to the preceding one. It has a quadrilateral shape, inserting
itself inferiorly on the oblique line and the inferior edge of the mandible,
on each side of the median line. From here, the fibres go upwards and
medially, in the thickness of the lower lip, which they pull downwards and
forwards, folding it outwards. It thus expresses sadness, disgust, irony and
crying.
- the mental (mentalis) is largely covered by the preceding one, is inserted
on the anterior side of the mandibular body, from where it passes obliquely
downwards, ending on the skin of the chin. Between the two mentals, the
fossa of the chin can be formed. In contraction, it elevates the crest of the
chin and pulls the lower lip forward, expressing disapproval, refusal,
anger. In children it marks the beginning of crying.
Mimics or expression means the exteriorisation at the level of the face of inner
psychological experiences, especially of the affective ones, through the action of the
skin muscles. Leonardo was the first artist who experimentally studied mimics.
Duchenne de Boulogne studies it then in the 19th century through the
electrophysiological method, electrically stimulating the muscles of the face.
The main expressions can be represented in the oval of the face only through
the lines of the eyes, the mouth and the nose. When these lines are horizontal, the face
45
gives the impression of calmness, duration, grandness, like in Egyptian art or the
horizontal of the outstretch of the sea. When the lines are descending, tilted
downwards and outwardly, they give the impression of sadness, mourning like in
graves and funerary monuments. Lines ascending outwardly give the impression of
cheerfulness, laughter and provoke high spirits. Thus, the features of the face
departing from the horizontal rest state oscillate, either ascending the range of
cheerfulness through oblique lines upwards and outwards, or descend the range of
sadness through oblique lines downwards and outwards.
Fig. 39. Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875). Experiments of electric

excitement of the muscles of the face. The stimulation of the large zygomatic realises a
sardonic laughter, and of the lateral brow depressor and of the depressor of the angles of
the mouth – the contraction specific to crying
Regarded extensively, the entire locomotor apparatus also has an expressive

function, even there where the main goal is completely different in nature: walking,
writing, posture. The expressive movements of the whole body are called pantomimic
movements. The gestures are reserved for the hands and the upper limbs. However,
expression reaches the highest level of communication at the level of the face,
realising mimics. Therefore it is the dynamic aspect of the face, its appearance in
movement.
The main expressions have as a mechanism the contraction of specific muscles,

but for the expression of an emotion the concomitant intervention of several muscles
is necessary and the other way around, a single muscle can intervene in the expression
of different subjective, even contradictory reactions, depending on the association, as
is the case of the buccinator, which, being horizontal, takes part both in laughing and
46
crying. This does not deny a certain specialisation of the mimic action specific to an
isolated muscle. For instance, the large zygomatic is the muscle of joy, the frontal is
the muscle of external attention and the orbicularis of the eyes of inner attention.
Fig. 40. The scheme of the main types of mimic expressions: a-balanced,
b-depressive, c-cheerful, optimistic.
Fig. 41. Bruegel –The peasant wedding, illustrative

detail for outward attention up to amazement. Vienna
Outward attention makes for the outside world, being translated mimically
through the contraction of the frontal muscle. It pulls the eyebrows upwards, rendering
47
them increased convexity. The eye is wide open and the forehead becomes wrinkled
with horizontal or slightly curved folds, concentrical to the eyebrows.
Starting from a certain intensity, there also appears the mimic role of the
masticators, which, through momentary relaxation, lead to the falling of the mandible
and the opening of the mouth. Moreover, in the same psychological range, the
increase of outward attention can transform qualitatively into amazement. Tied
directly to the sense of sight, this is characterised through a stunned look, the
elongation of the face, a maximum opening of the eyes and mouth through the
masticatory muscles, which help the expression through relaxation but allowing the
mandible to descend under its own weight. Unusual, surprising natural phenomena
and events, artistic masterpieces, the sublime, the monumental provoke amazement.
The inner attention is the mimics of the intimate concentration on work,

characteristic of meditation and of relative isolation from the environment. It is tied to
the process of thinking, being oriented towards the interior of the conscience. The
orbital and palpebral orbiculares especially participate in this. When the meditation is
joined by moral pain, the corrugator of the eyebrow also contracts and when its
subject is pleasant, positive, joined by joy, the zygomatics contract. The mimic of
reflection is part of the same psychological range, a state close to inner attention, in
which man is closed within himself, interiorised.
Profound meditation is marked through the contraction of the superior orbital

and palpebral orbiculares, which lower the eyebrow, curving it in the form of a convex
arch downwards, an inverse motion to the action of the frontal, essential in outward
48
attention. This is absolutely veridical from a psychological point of view. One cannot
think abstractly, reflect and regard attentively outwardly at the same time.
Usually, the exciting events and aspects of the world require the external
attention, which is marked through the wide opening of the eyes, the raising of the
eyebrows and wrinkling the forehead. Then, through relative isolation, one can reflect
on the perceived: the eyebrow is lowered, the forehead becomes smooth, the eyes
stare or are even closed and sometimes there appear the thinker’s wrinkles at the root
of the eyebrows, a sign of reflection and of inner attention.
Fig. 43. The expression of pain on Laocoon’s face, determined by the

action of the corrugator of the eyebrow.
Pain is translated though generalised, defensive contractions, localised

especially on the face. The corrugator muscle of the eyebrow contracts, lowers its
middle portion and elevates its internal extremity, orienting it obliquely upward and
medially. It produces vertical wrinkles in the medium region of the forehead, between
the eyebrows. The frontal, the procerus, the orbicularis of the eye and the elevator of
the upper lip contract, the pain contracting the face through the closing of the eyes and
the opening of the mouth. It is the expression of Laocoon’s face.
Fear, dread, horror constitute shuddering, in which the entire body takes part.
As in all very intense emotions, all the muscles of the face contract antagonistically,
realising a contraction. In such affects, the face, the neck and the head stiffen.
Contempt is marked especially by the action of the depressor of the angle of the
mouth, which pulls the commissures downwards and outwards, and of the depressor
49
of the lower lip, which project its forwards. The orbicularis of the mouth is also
associated to these actions.
Fig. 44. Repin – detail from Ivan the Terrible and his son. The intense reactions of dread mark the old tsar’s face.
Moscow, the State Tretyakov Gallery (left). Corneliu Baba – selfportrait, 1951. The action of the depressor of the
angle of the mouth pulls the commissures downwards and outwards and the depressor of the lower lip projects it
forwards. The orbicularis of the mouth is also associated to these actions, together providing the face with the
mimics of contempt (right).
Sadness is exteriorised through the pallor of the face and reduced breathing,
marked by profound exhalations, sighs. The reliefs of the face disappear, the features
becoming attenuated. The muscular tonus decreases, the muscles relax. The man is
depressed, passive and meditates staring.
Crying is the active discharge of the negative tensions accumulated over time
or, in children, a prompt reaction to unpleasant external stimuli. The muscles on the
forehead and around the eyes and especially the depressor of the angles of the mouth
contract, the latter pulling the commissures downwards and backwards, while the
depressor of the lower lip folds the lip downwards. The elevator of the upper lip
elevates its middle part, so that the lip becomes oblique downwards and outwardly and
the nasolabial groove curves with the concavity downwards, in inverse fashion as to
the expression of laughter. To these the contraction of the corrugator of the eyebrow is
added, which gives the accent of pain.
Fury and rage join threat and aggression. All mimic muscles contract, the eyebrows
descend especially through their internal extremities due to the contraction of the
50
procerus. This unites their lines and does a horizontal, tranversal groove at the root of
the nose. The nostrils dilate, the mouth opens, allowing the teeth to be seen.
Fig. 45. Michelangelo: Anger or Damned soul, head of expression, a damned man
from The judgement, The Sistine Chappel (left). Mantegna, Dead Christ, the mimics of
crying determined by the depressor of the angle of the mouth and that of the lower lip.
(right).
Cheerfulness and laughter modify the aspect of the eyes, the nose, the
mouth and the whole cheek especially at the lines of the lips, the nasolabial line and
the external angle of the eyes. The contracted large and small zygomatics pull the
commissures of the mouth upwards and outwardly. The latter becomes elongated and
curved with the concavity upwards. The small zygomatic (zygomaticus minor)
descends in parallel tot the large one, obliquely to the skin of the upper lip, which it
elevates expressing the smile, sometimes together with the risorius (risorius) muscle
and the elevator of the angle of the mouth (levator anguli oris). The inferior extremity
of the nasolabial line is also pulled upwards and outwardly, realising a concentric
curve to the commissures of the mouth. The skin of the cheek collects towards the
cheek bones in bolder relief and forms a few folds at the external angle of the eye. The
eye closes due to the contraction of the orbicularis. The cheek bones, nose and chin
seem more prominent, the nasolabial grooves deepen and the eyebrows rise.
Sometimes laughter is joined by tears of joy.
In adults, beside the construction and the bony architectonic particular

features of the cranium and the temporary characteristic aspect of momentary mimics,
51
a reiterative return to a constant mimic mask, proper to the portrayed character, is

remarked. However, the expressive meaning of rest in the face is more complex, being
provided by the qualities of the skin of the face, the abundance, the absence of
characteristic distribution of the fat tissue, the development of the masticatory or skin
muscles and especially of the grooves determined by them. However, the personal
adoption of attenuated, neutral, residual mimics returns specifically. To the inherited
morphological features are added those obtained at maturity, the expressive stereotype
coming about. In time, we witness a progressive systematisation of personal mimics,
its active inscriptioning in the constant features of the face, which become fixed and
emphasised at senescence.
Fig. 46. Leonardo da Vinci – study drawing found in the Windsor Library. The subtle
smile perfects the grace of female figures. The notions of Leonardo smile, as well as the ancient
Aegina’s smile are established. Donatello – child laughing
The remarkable aesthetic qualities of the face, of the shape and proportions of
the head, motivate the study of morphology and mimics. These have direct
applicability in the fine arts in an established genre: the portrait. A paradigm of
personality, it requires blending artistic rigour with psychological expression.
The artist observes the differences specific to each individual case, thus
inferring the character, a fundamental goal in the case of portraits. The portrait can
realise a surface or a profound resemblance. In the former case, what is uniform and
unessential, the common aspect, stereotype mimics and physiognomy are presented,
most of the times dictated by the social status of the portrayed person. We can include
52
in this category the apparatus portraits or the pose portraits in the period of the
Baroque, the tender portraits of the rococo, and some statuary portraits of
neoclassicism.
Fig. 47. Leonardo – study drawing of an old man, Louvre. Beside the specific
wrinkled aspect, there also appear modifications of the construction proportions, especially
at the level of the dental arches, due to edentation (the lack of teeth) (left). Albrecht Dürer –
The portrait of the artist’s mother, Berlin. The drawing is the typical image of the
modifications produced by the weakening of the tonus of the cutanous muscles and the
alteration of the skin. Lacking in elasticity and dehydrated, it falls in deep folds onto the
skeleton of the face and on the neck. The shortening of the fibres of the frontal determines
the aspect of the expressive stereotype of amazament through the persistance of the
horizontal wrinkles on the forehead (right).
As opposed to these, the profound resemblance reveals the individual

temperament and character, becoming an authentic investigation through the artist’s
intuition. Therefore the portrait must not be mistaken for the head of expression. It
does not dwell on the brutal affects and extreme but passing psychological
experiences, which render the face a temporary aspect, which can be transferred to all
individualities.
53
Physiognomy attempts to establish relations of correspondence between the

ensemble morphological characteristic features of the head, face and hands with the
soul features of personality, the temperament and especially the character. We thus
remark intelligent or inept, gloomy or cheerful, affable or mean, malicious, etc.,
physiognomies. The expressive accents are in concordance and reciprocity with the
subtle morphological details.
The psychologising portrait infers specifically the physiognomy, without

exaggerations through which it can change into a caricature.
Fig. 48. Leonardo- the temperamentals, the Windsor Library. The stable expressive
features of the physiognomy are largely owed to the temperament (left). Michelangelo – head of
expression of a damned figure, detail from The judgement, The Sistine Chappel. Covering the
frightened face with the hand is the symbolic gesture of an attempt at self-protection (right).
54
Caracalla’s face expresses decision, sternness and cruel brutality. The model is
followed without imagination, detail after detail: the emphasised cheek bones, the
expressive folds of the skin, the asymmetrical deviations of the nasal septum, the raw
contraction of the commissures of the mouth, tightened lips. However, the affable
elegance of Marcus Aurelius’s face is situated at the opposite pole.
Fig. 49. The Roman physiognomies obtain veritable historical and documentary value
through the diverse psychological repertoire, from authoritarian and cruel emperors
(Caracalla) to real elegant and responsable philosophers (Marcus Aurelius).
55
THE SKELETON OF THE TORSO
The torso is the form in which numerous masterpieces of the Greco-Roman

or Egyptian classicity arrive to us, unfortunately vandalised on the course of the
subsequent succession of the various “civilisations”. Thus it becomes a veritable
artistic genre.
Fig. 50. The torso from Miletus, marble from the beginning of the 5th century B.C.
Illustrative for the transition from archaism to classicism, it represents a nude man, in
orthostatism, like the ancient Kouros, but without its rigidity (left). Ancient torso in
Polykleitos’s style (right).
From an anatomical point of view, the torso is built out of: neck, thorax,
abdomen, shoulder and pelvis. The vertebral column (columna vertebralis)
represents the vertical, enduring and elastic axis, which supports it, running through it
medianly and posteriorly. In orthostatism it supports the head, the ribs, the upper
56
limbs (through the scapular belt) and then conveys the weight to the lower limbs
(through the pelvic girdle).
The vertebral column has a decisive role in the aesthetics of the torso by
determining stature and proportions. It ensures its mobility and flexibility and its
profile is largely determined by the sinuous sagittal aspect of the vertebral column.
Fig. 51. Leonardo – drawings from the Windsor Library. The profile aspect of the torso is
determined especially by the sagittal curves of the vertebral column, which provide the sinuous shape of
the back and increase its resistance. The lumbosacral angle is marked clearly (left). The vertebral column
– lateral aspect. Due to the form of an obliquely cut-off cylinder of the vertebral bodies and of the
intervertebral discs found between them, the column presents four curvatures in the sagittal plane:
anteriorly, the cervical curvature (C1-C7) is convex, the thoracic (T1-T12) is concave, the lumbar (L1-L5)
is again convex anteriorly and then the sacral is concave (right).
57
The column is formed through the overlapping of 33-34 short bones, called
vertrebrae, which bear the name of the region whose median and posterior axis they
form:
The cervical vertebrae (C 1- C7) correspond to the neck and form the cervical
column.
The thoracic vertebrae (T 11- T12) correspond to the thorax and form the thoracic
column.
The lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5) correspond to the posterior wall of the abdomen and
form the lumbar column. The cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae are mobile and
independent bones, being called for this reason true vertebrae.
The sacral vertebrae (5) and the coccygian vertebrae (4-5) correspond to the pelvis.
They fuse together forming the sacrum and the coccyx, which is why they are false
vertebrae.
The true vertebrae are built after a common type, which shall provide the
general characters. Within a region, however, they present modifications of form due
to the anatomic ratios, the mechanical solicitation, the degree of mobility and the
functional differences, resulting in their regional characters. Some vertebrae have
such pronounced anatomic particular features that they differ even within the region
they are part of, thus resulting their special characters.
General characters. Each true vertebra has an anterior, massive part

representing a segment of a full cylinder, called body, and a posterior, lamellar part
called arch. These elements limit the vertebral hole, which, through the overlapping of
all vertebrae, forms the vertebral canal, where the spinal marrow is hosted. The
vertebral arch, which forms the posterior wall of the vertebral hole, is made up of two
blades, from which the spinous process (processus spinosus) comes off posteriorly.
The succession of all vertebral spinous processes united by the supraspinous ligament
forms the spinous ridge, a vertical, long and median relief, a veritable axis of
symmetry of the posterior side of the torso. Laterally, from the vertebral blades, the
transverse processes (processus transversus) come off.
The regional characters are determined by the functional factor. Thus, the
cervical vertebrae have a small and transversally elongated body, while the spinous
process is short, horizontal and has a bifid tip to support the supraspinous ligament,
which in the cervical region is called cervical ligament. The thoracic vertebrae have
an antero-posteriorly elongated body and the spinous process strongly descends
obliquely downwards and backwards. The lumbar vertebrae have a massive body, to
be able to stand the weight of the torso, the transverse diameter surpasses the
anteroposterior one, while the well-developed spinous process has a horizontal
direction.
58
Fig. 52. a. Cervical vertebra; b. Thoracic vertebra;

c. Lumbar vertebra ; d. The sacrum seen from above
59
Special characters. There are three vertebrae which have extremely

pronounced particular characters. Atlas (atlas), the first cervical vertebra (C1) has no
body and is reduced to a ring, formed out of two lateral masses united through an
anterior and a posterior arch. Each of them presents on their superior side a glenoid
articular cavity for joining with the condyles of the occipital. The transversal ligament
is inserted on the medial faces of the lateral masses. It splits the vertebral hole of the
atlas in an anterior compartment, into which the tooth of the axis penetrates, and a
posterior one, the true vertebral hole, where the spinal marrow is situated. On the
inferior sides, the atlas presents articular processes corresponding to the superior
articular ones of the axis.
Proces
transvers
Proces
transvers
Fig. 53. Atlas and axis
The axis (axis) is the C2 vertebra. On the superior side of its body there is the
vertical odontoid process, also called tooth (dens), the characteristic of this vertebra.
The prominent (vertebra prominens) is the C7 vertebra and its specificity is a

longer spinous process, which can easily be observed under the skin. Within the
spinous ridge, it comes out in very bold relief in the flexion of the cervical column,
constituting an important artistic point of reference, which marks the limit between the
posterior sides of the neck and the thorax.
60
The joining of the cervical column with the head ensures ample and varied
mobility. The first two cervical vertebrae, the atlas and the axis, are joined with the
cranium at two levels. Superiorly, the condyles of the occipital take place in the two
glenoid cavities on the superior sides of the two lateral masses of the atlas. There
result two condylian joints, which together constitute an anatomic and functional unit,
the atlantooccipital joint (articulatio atlantooccipitalis). It allows movements of
flexion (forwards), extension (backwards) of 30o and slight laterality of 15o.
The occipital
Protuberanţa
protuberance
Atlas occipitală
The mastoid
Atlas Procesul
process
Axis mastoid
Axis
The prominence
Proeminenta
Fig. 54. The joining of the cervical column with the head on two levels:
superiorly – the atlantooccipital joint and inferiorly – the median atlantoaxial joint
Inferiorly, the joining of the column with the head is called median atlantoaxial
(articulatio atlantoaxialis mediana). The ontoid process, the vertical prominence of the
body of the axis vertebra, also called tooth (dens), penetrates into the anterior
compartment of the ring of the atlas, allowing it to execute the rotation of the head on
the column. This movement is also relatively reduced (70o). The increase of the
amplitude of the movement is realised by attracting the cervical intervertebral joints.
The joints of the vertebral column (juncturae columnae vertebralis) can be

intrinsic (intervertebral joints proper), among the own component pieces, or extrinsic,
the joints of the column with the neighbouring bones. As we have seen, the cervical
column is joined extrinsically superiorly with the head, the thoracic one laterally with
the ribs and to the pelvis, the lateral sides of the sacrum with the two coxals.
61
Fig. 55. Michelangelo – his drawings catch the flexibility of the column in impressive
dramatic movements.
The true vertebrae are joined intrinsically through symphyses, between

their vertebral bodies being the intervertebral discs (disci intervertebralis), which
damp the shocks. Their elasticity and resistance ensure balance, redressing the column
in its normal, vertical position. The vertebral arches stick onto each other through two
superior and two inferior articular processes (processus articularis). They come off of
the superior and inferior, respectively, sides of the vertebral arch. With their help, the
overlaid vertebrae are tied together, as the inferior articular processes join the superior
ones of the vertebra underneath it.
The intervertebral joints are semimobile joints with own movements

between two reduced and little perceptible vertebrae. However, they obtain scope
through their addition and become obvious when the region is regarded in its whole.
The amplitude of the movements of the vertebral column is maximum in the cervical
region, a little lower in the lumbar region (out of resistance necessity) and reduced in
62
the dorsal region due to the presence of the ribs. These movements can be divided in
two fundamental categories:
- inclination In the sagittal plane movements of flexion – forwards and
extension – towards the back are possible around a transversal axis and in
the frontal plane – movements of laterality around a anteroposterior axis.
- the rotation is achieved around the column’s own vertical axis.
- circumduction is the totalisation of all of these movements. The head
draws a horizontal circle, while the trunk delineates a virtual cone with the
apex downwards, at the base of the sacrum.
Fig. 56. Ingres - Odalisque, study drawing in pencil, Louvre. The exaggeration
of the length and the gracility of the vertebral column occasioned the well-known
malitious comments about the presence of an additional vertebra.
The aesthetic qualities of the vertebral column come to the fore especially
there where it constitutes the axis of flexible regions, like the abdomen or neck,
inserted among rigid, constant, undeformable volumes: cranium, thorax, pelvis.
Measured between the horizontal plane passing superiorly through the

atlantooccipital joint (which corresponds exteriorly to the anterior nasal spine) down
to the one passing anteriorly through the pubic symphysis, the length of the column
represents 1/3 of the size. In tall individuals it is relatively shorter (due to the length of
the lower limbs), while in short ones and in women it determines a relatively longer
torso.
The thorax (thorax) forms the largest volume of the body and represents
the superior part of the torso. The skeleton of the thorax is built on the dorsal
column, which offers to it the median axis posteriorly. From here, twelve pairs of ribs
63
joined posteriorly with the twelve corresponding thoracic vertebrae go laterally and
then arrive through the rib cartilages to the anterior median part, the sternum.
The first rib
The sternal
manubrium
The body of the
sternum
th
The 5 rib
The
xiphoid
process
th
The 8 rib
th
The 11 rib
th
The 12 rib
Fig. 57. The thorax – anterior and posterior aspect.
The ribs (costae) are twelve pairs of arches which come off laterally of the
dorsal column, go laterally and then anteriorly and slightly downwards on each side,
down to the sternum. Each rib is formed out of a posterior part, the bony rib proper (os
costale) and an anterior part, the cartilage, which makes the connection with the
sternum. The elongation of the ribs increases downwards to the 8th pair, then decreases
down to the 12th. The first rib is short, horizontal and presents a superior and an
inferior side. The second pair of ribs is at the level of the sternal angle. The 8th rib is
the longest.
As Leonardo describes, the ribs are numbered downwards are differentiated as

follows according to their relation to the sternum:
- true ribs (costae verae) are the first seven pairs, the ones that are joined
individually with the sternum through their own costal cartilages;
- false ribs (costae spuriae) are the following three pairs (the 8th, 9th and
10th), the ones which arrive to the sternum indirectly, through a common
cartilage, which attaches to the cartilage of the 7th rib;
- floating ribs are the last two pairs (the 11th and the 12th), the ones that are
suspended and do not arrive at the sternum, with an unarticulated anterior
extremity.
64
The jugular incisure

The
clavicular
THE STERNAL incisure
MANUBRIUM
The sternal
angle
THE BODY OF The head of the

THE STERNUM Costal
rib
incisures The costal tubercle
The costal angle
Corpul coastei
Fig. 58. The sternum, anterior and lateral aspect; the 2nd and 6th ribs
The sternum is a flat bone, oriented obliquely downwards and forwards, while
the obliqueness is more emphasised in men (20o) than in women. It is composed of
three pieces: superiorly, the handle (manubrium sterni) is wider, in the middle there is
the body (corpus sterni) and inferiorly – the xiphoid process (processus xifoideus),
which comes out in bold relief in the epigastric depression.
Narrower up, at the union with the handle, the body of the sternum widens
progressively, ending inferiorly with the tip (the xiphoid process). The anterior,
convex side presents at the union of the manubrium with the body a prominence called
the sternal angle (angulus sterni), which marks the joining of the second pair of ribs
with the sternum. The two lateral edges of the sternum each present seven incisures,
where the internal heads of the first seven pairs of costal cartilages penetrate into. The
superior extremity of the sternum presents medianly the jugular incisure (incisura
jugularis), the anterior limit between neck and thorax. Laterally to this there are two
articular facets (incisurae clavicularis) for the ends of the collar bones. The sternum is
an important element of proportion. Its length is equal to: the hand without the end
segment of the middle finger, the spinal edge of the shoulder blade, the collar bone
and the distance between the shoulder blades.
The anterior side of the thorax, the chest, is delineated by two oblique lines that
pass through the anterior angles of the ribs. In thin individuals and children, the reliefs
of the ribs and the depressions between them, the sternum, the costal cartilages and the
reliefs of the joints of the cartilage with the sternum and the rib are richly modelled.
These are aligned, drawing the sides of a trapezium, and are called the chain of the
65
condrosternal knots and the chain of the codrocostal knots, respectively. The anterior
side of the sternum is a depression between the muscular masses of the pectorals,
being limited superiorly by the jugular incisure, an important point of reference, and
inferiorly by the epigastric hollow. This depression is narrower in the middle, formed
out of two slightly tilted planes, which meet in the sternal angle, found at the level of
the 2nd rib.
The posterior side of the thorax is a trapezium limited by two oblique lines
which pass through the posterior costal angles. It presents the spinous ridge medianly
and the two paravertebral grooves on each side. From a spatial point of view, the
thorax has the form of a cone trunk with the small base up and the large base down. In
children, the ribs are less oblique and determine a smaller transversal diameter of the
torso.
In adults, it increases as the lungs develop, while in old people the thorax
becomes round and rigid due to the ossification of costal cartilages. In women, the
thorax is shorter and has a smaller transversal diameter. In the dolichomorphic type
the bony thorax is long and narrow, while in the brevi-morphic type it is short and
wide. The base of the thorax seen from the front is determined by the edge of the 7 th -
10th costal cartilages. It constitutes the limit between thorax and abdomen, frames the
epigastric depression and has an ogival form at rest in dolichomorphic individuals. In
straining women and robust individuals, the ogive turns into an arch in full centring.
The shoulder is the belt of the higher limbs (cingulum membri superioris) or
the scapular belt and determines the width and the aspect of the torso as a trapezium
with a large base. The skeleton of the shoulder is formed out of two bones on each
side: the collar bone anteriorly and the shoulder blade or the scapula posteriorly. It
ensures the connection between the free upper limbs and the thorax, which it
surrounds incompletely at its superior extremity on four fifths of its circumference.
The shoulder blades, tying posteriorly with the thorax only through muscular
insertions, leave between them a free posterior fifth, on both sides of the dorsal
column. Thus, the scapular belt is tied properly to the thorax only anteriorly (the
sternoclavicular joint), being extremely mobile. In the abduction of the arm beyond
the horizontal, the internal edge of the shoulder blade becomes horizontal, from a
vertical position. The aesthetic value of the scapular belt is constituted by its
architectonic role of constructing the width of the volume of the superior part of the
torso.
The shoulder blade or the scapula (scapula) is a flat bone in the form of a
triangle with the base upwards. Applied posteriorly at the superior limit of the thorax,
which it surpasses laterally, it corresponds vertically to the distance from the first
intercostal space to the 8th rib, takes part in the formation of the shoulder and limits
the axilla posteriorly.
The shoulder blade presents two sides, three edges and three angles.
66
1 1
2
2
Fig. 59. Transversal plane:

the joints 1- sternoclavicular, 2- acromioclavicular
The anterior side (facies costalis) of the shoulder blade is concave, also being
called the subscapular fossa (fossa subscapularis) and it is pierced by oblique ridges,
which delineate the costal marks where the bone is very thin and transparent. This is
where the subscapular muscle is inserted, while the anterior dented muscle is inserted
on the medial sides.
The posterior side (facies dorsalis) looks backwards and laterally. Off of it
there comes a strong blade, perpendicular on the plane of the posterior side, called the
spine of the shoulder blade (spina scapulae). It begins at the superior third of the
internal edge, is emphasised progressively, going obliquely upwards and laterally
towards the shoulder, where it ends with a free prolongation, flattened downwards,
called acromion (acromion). This forms the tip of the shoulder and is an important
point of reference, marking the width of the shoulders. It presents an articular facet
(facies articularis acromii) for the lateral extremity of the collar bone.
The trapezium is inserted on the superior lip of the dorsal edge of the spine of
the shoulder blade and the deltoid on the inferior lip. The spine of the shoulder blade
divides its posterior side in two unequal depressions: the smaller supraspinous fossa
(fossa supraspinata), in it being inserted the supraspinous muscle and the larger
subspinous fossa (fossa infraspinata), in which the infraspinous, the small round and
the large round are inserted downwards.
67
The internal edge (margo medialis) is thin, parallel to the spinous ridge and the
anterior dented is inserted on it. The superior edge (margo superior) is thin and
uneven, presenting the hollow of the scapula (incisura scapulae). It finishes externally
with the coracoid process (processus coracoideus), on which the short portion of the
brachial biceps, the coracobrachialis and the small pectoral are inserted. The external
edge (margo lateralis) is thick and rough and delineates the axilla posteriorly.
The scapular
incisure
The spine of Acromion The coracoid

process
the scapula
The lateral
The
angle
glenoid
The neck
cavity
of the
The vertebral
scapula
edge
The
axillary
The supero-external angle
edge(angulus
lateralis) is the most voluminous and the
most important angle as a functional role, because it has in its thickness, dug ovally
and shallowly, the glenoid cavity (cavitas glenoidalis) for the articulation with the
The inferior
angle
Fig. 60. The scapula (the shoulder blade)
head of the humerus. At its superior extremity there is the rugosity of the
supraglenoid tubercle (tuberculum supraglenoidale), where the long portion of the
brachial biceps is inserted. Inferiorly to the glenoid cavity there is the subglenoid
tubercle (tuberculum infraglenoidale), where the long portion of the brachial triceps is
inserted. Above the joint there is the acromioclavicular vault, consolidated through the
ligaments which unite the two bones.
As a distancing bone, the collar bone determines the architectonics of the

superior part of the anterior torso, building its width. To the exterior modelling and the
aesthetics of the region it contributes through the prominent relief of its body, found
between the two depressions, the supraclavicular fossa and the infraclavicular fossa.
The collar bone is a long, pair bone, situated transversally between the sternal handle
and the acromion of the shoulder blade, at the limit between thorax and neck.
Regarded anteriorly, it is straight and horizontal. Regarded from above, it has the
shape of the letter S, presenting two unequal curvatures: an internal, anteriorly convex
one and an external, anteriorly concave one.
68
The inferior side The sternal

articular facet
The acromial
articular facet
The superior side

The sternal
articular facet
The acromial
articular facet
Fig. 61. The collar bone
The collar bone has a rounded body, the diaphysis, and two extremities or
epiphyses. The external or acromial extremity (extremitas acromialis) is flattened
horizontally downwards and is joined through an acromial facet (facies articularis
acromialis) with the acromion, the external extremity of the spine of the shoulder
blade, realising the acromioclavicular joint. The medial or sternal extremity
(extremitas sternalis), also called the head of the collar bone, is a bulky pyramid
trunk. It is joined with the episternum through a sternal facet (facies articularis
sternalis), which it accentuates considerably, doing a prominent relief outside of it.
The internal curvature of the body of the collar bone, anteriorly convex, continues this
relief tranversally.
The pelvis (pelvis) is situated approximately at the middle of the adult’s

body, where it receives and conveys her/his weight towards the thighs and protects the
internal organs.
The skeleton of the pelvis realises the belt of the lower limbs (cingulum
membri inferioris) and has the shape of a cone trunk with the large base up and the
small base down, built around a median and posterior axis represented by the sacrum.
The sacrum (os sacrum) has the form of a pyramid with the base up and
flattened anteroposteriorly. It is massive and rocky, median and odd, oriented
obliquely downwards and backwards. It is situated as a continuation of the lumber
column. With this it forms the sacrolumbar angle. The sacrum presents anteriorly a
concave side called pelvic side (facies pelvina). On its median line there is a column,
which comes from the fusing of the five component vertebral bodies. The fusing spots
are marked through four transversal lines (lineae transversae), at each of whose
extremities there is a pelvic sacral hole (foramina sacralia pelvina), which also appears
on the dorsal side.
69
Promontory The sacral canal

Superior articular
process
Posterior
sacral holes
Lateral sacral ridge
Sacral ridge
Transverse lines
Anterior sacral
holes
Fig. 62. The sacrum –anterior and posterior aspect.
The posterior side (facies dorsalis) is convex is looks backwards and upwards.
On the median line it presents the median sacral ridge (crista sacralis mediana),
which results from the union of the spinous processes of the sacral vertebrae. Laterally
to this median ridge, there are four dorsal sacral holes (foramina sacralia dorsalia) on
each side, corresponding to the anterior ones. On the lateral sides (pars lateralis) there
are the rough articular surfaces of a shape resembling the auricle, called auricular
sides (facies auricularis). These are joined with the similar auricular surfaces on the
coxals, realising the sacroiliac joints (articulatio sacroiliacae).
The coxal (os coxae) is wide at the ends and narrower in the middle, bulky and
twisted like a propeller. The two coxals unite anteriorly through the pubic symphysis
and posteriorly they are joined at the sacrum. A coxal is formed out of a superior part
– ilium, an anteroinferior part – pubis and a posteroinferior one – ischion, oriented in
the different plane than the ilium.
The three component pieces meet at the level of an articular cavity for the head
of the tighbone, profound 2/3 of a sphere, called the cotyloid cavity or acetabulum.
Considered as a whole, the coxal presents two sides (internal and external), four edges
and four angles. The lateral side presents superiorly the external iliac fossa, the
cotyloid cavity in the middle and inferiorly a large orifice, limited posteroinferiorly by
the ischial tuberosity and anteroinferiorly by the pubis, called obturated hole
(foramen-obturatum).
70
The iliac wing

The sacroiliac
joint
The sacral
bone
The coxofemoral
joint
Fig. 63. The pelvis seen from above and from the front.
The superior edge or the iliac ridge (crista iliaca), regarded laterally, has the
aspect of an ogive. Its superior extremity is at the same time the point of maximum
width of the pelvis, the iliocristale point. This is especially important from a
morphological point of view, being the inferior homologue of the acromion, the one
on which the maximum width of the shoulders is measured. The iliac ridge spans from
the antero-superior iliac spine to the posterosuperior iliac spine, which also
correspond to the respective angles of the coxal. It is the thickest of the four edges.
The anterior edge is bumpy and continues the superior edge downwards.
After the antero-superior iliac spine, on which the sartorius muscle, the tensor muscle
of the wide fascia and the inguinal ligament are inserted, there follows lower the
antero-inferior iliac spine, on which the right femoral muscle is inserted inferiorly.
Inferiorly there appears the pubic tubercle (tuberculum pubicum), on which the
inguinal ligament is inserted inferiorly. Medially to this, there appears a rough area
where the abdominal right is inserted inferiorly, then the edge presents an oval surface
which serves for the articulation with the coxal bone on the opposite side. Thus, the
coxals are joined between them anteriorly and medianly through the pubic symphysis
(symphysis pubica). This is an especially important morphological mark, being the
inferior homologue of the jugular incisure, between them being measured the height
of the torso. In the case of the open pelvis, the abdomen forms above the pubis an arch
in full centring and in the case of the closed pelvis a narrower broken (ogival) arch (in
men).
71
11
1
12
2
3 8
6 6
4 9
10 7
10
5
14
13
Fig. 64. The coxal seen from the exterior (left) and the interior (right) 1- the iliac
ridge and the iliocristale point, 2- the antero-superior iliac spine, 3- the antero-inferior
iliac spine, 4 – the cotyloid cavity, 5 – the ischial tuberosity, 6 – the great ischial hollow,
7- the anterior edge, 8 – the posterior superior iliac spine, 9- the posterior inferior iliac
spine, 10- the ischial spine, 11- the external iliac fossa, 12- the ilium, 13 – the inferior
edge, 14 – the oval articular surface of the pubic symphysis
The posterior edge is almost vertical and very uneven. Under the
posterior superior iliac spine, where the superior edge ends, there follows the relief of
the posterior inferior iliac spine. On the two spines, the strong ligaments of the sacro-
iliac joint are inserted. There follows the great ischial hollow and inferiorly there is
the bulky prominence of the ischial tuberosity (tuber ischiadicum), which ensures
support to the sitting position. The inferior edge is the shortest, it spans between the
ischial tuberosity and the angle of the pubis, being built by the branch of the ischium
and the inferior branch of the pubis.
Through the sacroiliac joints (articulatio sacroiliacae) the sacrum

meshes between the two coxals like a strong feather. The sacrum has a bulkier base,
which prevents its falling down, and its dorsal side wider than the ventral, pelvic one
prevents its protrusion backwards to forwards within the pelvis. Thus, the sacrum
conveys symmetrically to the coxals the weight of the superior part of the body
towards the lower limbs, the centre of gravity being somewhere inside the pelvis
between the sacrum and the pubic symphysis.
72
THE SKELETON OF THE HIGHER LIMBS
The skeleton of the free higher limbs (skeleton membri superioris liberi)
corresponds to their three constitutive segments: arm, forearm and hand. The hand is
composed in its turn of fist, palm and fingers, which allow the possibility of complex
movements, from the coarsest, which presuppose strength, to the very subtle ones.
The arm is built on a long bone called humerus (humerus).

The diaphysis or the body of the humerus (corpus humeri) is almost
cylindrical superiorly and triangular prismatic inferiorly, where the three superiorly
blunt edges appear more pronounced. It is oriented downwards and internally and
slightly twisted around its axis. On the posterior side, there appears obliquely
downwards and outwards the torsion groove. Supero-externally from it the lateral
head of the of the brachial triceps is inserted, and infero-internally its medial head. On
the external side, towards its middle, there is a rough surface, shaped like a V with the
tip downwards, called the deltoid tuberosity (tuberositas deltoidea), on which the
deltoid is inserted distally and the anterior brachial proximally.
The superior epiphysis presents supero-internally a smooth articular

relief rounded one third of a sphere, called the humeral head (caput humeri). It is
joined with the glenoid cavity from the supero-external angle of the shoulder blade,
forming the scapulohumeral joint or the joint of the shoulder (articulatio humeri).
Infero-externally from the humeral head there are two non-articular reliefs. The
internal one is the small tubercle (tuberculum minus). As the large tubercle
(tuberculum majus) is external, on it are inserted the muscles from the posterior side
of the shoulder blade. The bihumeral diameter (the maximum width of the shoulders)
is measured at the level of the large tubercles. The intertubercular groove (sulcus
intertubercularis) is the vertical groove between these two reliefs. It is also called the
bicipital groove because through it there passes the tendon of the long portion of the
brachial biceps. On the ridge of the large tubercle, the external side of the groove, the
great pectoral is inserted, and on that of the small tubercle, the internal side, the great
round and the great dorsal are inserted.
The inferior epiphysis of the humerus is curved anteriorly and flattened

frontally, so that its transversal diameter is larger than the antero-posterior one. It
presents articular reliefs, destined to the radius and the ulna and non-articular reliefs.
Articular reliefs are the humeral trochlea (trochleea humeri), placed internally,
73
corresponding to the trochlear cavity on the ulna and the capitulum (capitulum
humeri), a spherical prominence situated laterally to the trochlea, which corresponds
to the articular fossa, the cup on the head of the radius.
The trochlea is formed out of two sides and a vertical neck. The internal
side descends lower, determining the obliqueness of the forearm. Above the humeral
trochlea there is anteriorly the coronoid fossa (fossa coronoidea), which the coronoid
process of the ulna penetrates in the flexion movement of the forearm onto the arm.
Also above the trochlea, but posteriorly, there is the olecranon fossa (fossa olecrani),
which the olecranon of the ulna penetrates in the extension movement of the forearm
onto the arm. The radial fossa (fossa radialis), which the head of the radius in flexion
touches with the lateral, is situated above the capitulum. The non-articular surfaces of
the inferior epiphysis are the epitrochlea or the medial epicondyle (epycondilus
medialis), placed internally as to the throchlea, and the lateral epicondyle
(epycondilus lateralis), situated externally from the capitulum.
The epitrochlea is a strong triangular prominence, at which the internal
edge of the diaphysis of the humerus ends distally. On it are inserted the pronator and
flexor muscles of the forearm, hand and fingers. The epitrochlea has special
importance as a point of anatomic and artistic reference, because it marks the tip of the
obtuse angle between the arm and the forearm, provides insertion but is not covered
by muscles and does not change its position in the flexion and extension of the
forearm onto the arm. The lateral epicondyle is smaller than the medial one, at it
ending distally the lateral edge of the humeral diaphysis. On it are inserted the
epicondylian muscles, supinator muscles of the forearm and extensors of it, the hand
and the fingers.
The joint of the shoulder (articulatio humeri) is of a spheroid type. The

attentive examination of the articular surfaces shows that there is an obvious
disproportion between the humeral head, which comes only partially into contact with
the shallow glenoid cavity of the shoulder blade, which only represents a quarter of its
surface. Given the reduced contact of the articular surfaces, it results that the
movements of this joint shall be very ample. The movements always take place in a
perpendicular plane onto the axis around which the movement takes place. Around a
transversal axis there shall take place the movements of: anteduction or projection
forwards, with an amplitude of 120o and retroduction or projection backwards, with
an amplitude of 30o, in a sagittal plane.
Around a sagittal axis, movements will take place in the frontal plane:
- abduction, removing the arm from the body in two phases: 1- up to the
horizontal, when the great tubercle of the humerus arrives at the
acromioclavicular vault and 2-when the elevation of the arm is continued
up to the vertical, by the coming into action of the sternoclavicular joint,
and through a tilting movement of the shoulder blade its internal edge
becomes horizontal from vertical.
- Adduction, approaching the arm to the body, so the opposite movement
to abduction.
Around the longitudinal (vertical) axis of the humerus the movements
of internal and external rotation of the humerus are executed, which will be
74
completed by those of supination and pronation of the forearm. The circumduction

results from the execution of a complex movement, a synthesis of the ones described
anteriorly. It is realised through the ample change of place, in a circle, of the distal
extremity of the hand, the forearm and the arm describing a cone with the apex at the
shoulder joint. The humerus involves in its movement the entire scapular belt, which
is very mobile.
The humeral head
The great
tuberosity
The small
tuberosity
The humeral neck The bicipital

groove
The deltoid V
The body of the
humerus
The lateral edge The medial edge
The radial fossa The coronoid fossa

The humeral
condyle The medial
epicondyle
The olecranon fossa The humeral trochlea
medial
The posterior side The anterior side
Fig. 65. The humerus – posterior and anterior aspect, respectively
75
The skeleton of the forearm is formed out of two long, parallel

bones: the ulna, situated internally (on the side of the little finger) and the radius,
situated externally (on the side of the thumb). They are joined between them only
through their epiphyses, remaining at a distance at the level of the diaphyses through
the interbone space, where a ligament is found. They present a strong contrast: the
radius surpasses the ulna through its inferior epiphysis and is surpassed by it through
its superior epiphysis, so having different levels, volume and functional importance.
Ulna conducts superiorly, in the joint of the elbow, the flexion and extension of the
forearm on the arm, also involving the radius, which comes much lower but can
revolve around its axis. Inferiorly, the radius is joined with the bones of the fist
through the radiocarpal joint, which allows the rotation of the hand in pronation and
supination.
The ulna (ulna), oblique downwards and laterally, forms with the
humerus an obtuse angle, opened laterally. The superior epiphysis is built out of a
vertical volume, the olecranon, (olecranon), an important point of reference, and a
horizontal volume, the coronoid process (processus coronoideus). The two volumes
form between them a right angle and circumscribe an anterior articular cavity, called
the trochlear cavity (incisura trohleearis), which is joined with the trochlea of the
humerus. On the lateral part of the coronoid process there is a concave semicylindrical
articular facet, called the radial cavity (incisura radialis), which is joined with the
head of the radius. Below the coronoid process there is the tuberosity of the ulna
(tuberositas ulnae), on which the anterior brachial muscle is inserted. In the flexion of
the forearm onto the arm, the coronoid process penetrates the coronoid cavity found
anteriorly and above the humeral trochlea. The olecranon, the posterior tip of the
elbow, in the extension of the forearm onto the arm, takes place in the olecranon
cavity, found posteriorly, above the humeral trochlea. On it is inserted distally the
brachial triceps. The inferior epiphysis of the ulna presents three formations: the head
(caput ulnae), which is joined laterally through its circumference (circumferential
articularis) with the ulnar incisure of the radius and the styloid process (processus
styloideus), situated on the medial part of the head.
The radius (radius) is a long, pair bone, situated on the lateral part
of the forearm, in the direction of the thumb. The superior epiphysis is composed of
three elements: the head, the neck and the tuberosity of the radius. The head (caput
radii) is a cylinder segment. Its superior side presents a depression called the fossa of
the radial head or the radial cup, which corresponds to the humeral capitulum. The
circumference of the head corresponds to the radial incisure on the ulna. After a
tightening called neck (collum radii), there follows the bicipital tuberosity of the
radius (tuberositas radii), an ovoidal prominence on which the brachial biceps is
inserted distally through a tendon. The inferior extremity of the radius is very bulky
transversally and has the form of a pyramid trunk, which presents a base and four
sides. The medial side presents the ulnar hollow (incisura ulnaris), destined to the
articulation with the head of the ulna. The lateral side continues downwards with the
76
styloid process (processus styloideus), which descends lower than the styloid process
of the ulna.
Olecranon
The sigmoid The radial cup
incisure
The coracoid The head of
process the radius
The bicipital
The neck
tuberosity radiusului
Posterior face
Interbone The body of

ridge the radius
The body of the ulna
The ulnar
styloid process
The radial
styloid process
Fig. 66. The skeleton of the forearm seen anteriorly (left) and posteriorly (right).
The posterior side presents vertical pleats which delineate grooves through
which the tendons of the extensor muscles of the hand and fingers slide. The base, the
carpal articular side (facies articularis carpea), has the form of a triangle, whose apex
becomes elongated laterally on the styloid process. It is subdivided through an antero-
77
posterior ridge in two secondary sides: a lateral, triangular one in comparison with the
scaphoid and a medial one in comparison with the semilunate.
The joint of the elbow (articulatio cubiti) The elbow and the forearm are
developed transversally and flattened in the frontal plane, in inverse fashion to the
arm, so that the maximum width of the higher limbs seen from the front is at the
forearm and the one seen from the profile is at the level of the arm. The elbow
corresponds to the joint of the inferior epiphysis of the humerus with the superior ones
of the ulna and radius. At this level, three joints are described: humeroulnar
(articulatio humeroulnaris), humeroradial (articulatio humeroradialis) and proximal
radioulnar (articulatio radioulnaris proximalis).
As articular surfaces, internally, the humeral trochlea corresponds to the

trochlear incisure of the ulna. The form of the humeroulnar articular surfaces
determines the type of hinge joint. The humeroulnar joint is decisive for the
movements around its transversal axis. The flexion and extension of the forearm onto
the arm has approximately 140o. The extension is limited when the axis of the forearm
enters the direction of the arm and the olecranon of the una shortens the arm, entering
the olecranon fossa of the humerus. The forearm forms an externally open angle with
the arm, because the axis along which the flexion and extension are done is oblique
downwards and inwardly.
Externally, to the capitulum of the humerus there corresponds the fossa of

the radial head. For the proximal radioulnar joint, the ulna presents on the external
side of the coronoid process the radial incisure, which is a segment of an empty
cylinder, corresponding to the head of the radius, which presents the medial half of its
circumference, a segment of a full cylinder. This is where the movements of rotation
on the spot of the radial head in supination and pronation around the ulna, the
longitudinal axis, are coordinated.
The supination is the anatomic position of the hand, in which the palm
side is oriented anteriorly and the thumb is lateral. The axes of the segments of the
upper limbs in the anatomic position are inversed: the arm is obliquely downwards
and inwards and the forearm is obliquely downwards and outwards. The two axes
form an outwardly open angle, with the tip on the epitrochlea. The axis of the hand is
oblique like the arm, so again downwards and inwardly. The form of the forearm in
supination is flattened in the frontal plane, the bones of the forearm having a parallel
position. The transition from supination to pronation leads to the disappearance of the
angles between the arm, forearm and hand, the upper limbs entering a single axis.
The pronation is the movement through which the palm side is oriented
posteriorly and even laterally and the thumb relocates medially. The superior
extremity of the forearm remains flattened transversally, the head of the radius only
rotates around its axis. Inferiorly, however, its body crosses the ulna, becoming
internal to it. The distal extremity of the radius executes a translation around the body
of the ulna, becoming a fixed axis, crosses it and becomes internal from external. The
78
angle between arm and forearm disappears, the two segments entering the same
straight line.
Fig. 67. 1- the epitrochlea, 2-the trochlea of the humerus, 3-the capitulum, 4- the
lateral epicondyle, 5- the head of the radius, 6-the coronoid process of the ulna, 7- the
syloid process of the radius (the stylion point), 8-the styloid proces of the ulna, r- the
radiale point (the superior extremity of the forearm), ph – the phalangion point, d- the
dactylion point (the distal extremity of the higher limbs)
The form of the forearm, flattened in supination, becomes cylindrical as a

consequence of the crossing of the inferior half of the radius over the ulna and of the
79
disappearance of the interbone space. When the forearm is horizontal, in pronation the
palm side looks downwards and in supination it looks upwards. The pure pronation
and supination movements, in which the ulna is mobile and the only one that moves is
the radius, only happen exceptionally. In usual activity, the supination and pronation
are joined by rotation movements of the whole upper limb in the scapulohumeral joint.
The skeleton of the hand is formed out of bones grouped in the three
segments: the fist or the carpus, the hand or the metacarpus and the fingers. The fist is
a transition area between the forearm and the hand, also being flattened in the frontal
plane. The dorsal side of the fist is modelled by the skeleton of the carpal massif. This
presents a superior, convex side, joined with the radius, and an inferior, irregular one,
joined with the metacarpal bones. The posterior side is convex, while the anterior side
is concave and forms the groove of the carpus (sulcus carpi), through which the
tendons of the flexors of the hand and fingers pass.
2
5
6
4
7
Proximal
1 Carpal
3
1 bones
8 9 10 12
median
distal
Fig. 68. 1-carpal; 2-metacarpal; 3- phalanx; 4-the scaphoid, 5-the semilunate , 6-

the pyramidal, 7-the pisiform, 8-the trapezium, 9-the trapezoid, 10-the capitate, 11-the
bone with a hook, 12-the hook.
The carpus (carpus) is formed out of eight bones placed on two rows. In
the proximal row there are, beginning from the outside, four bones: the scaphoid, the
semilunate, the pyramidal and the pisiform, placed on its anterior side. In the distal
row there are in the same order a further four bones: the trapezium, the trapezoid, the
capitate (the large bone) and the bone with a hook. The artistic points which limit the
distal extremity of the forearm and the anterior side of the carpus are: the styloid
process of the ulna and the one of the radius found lower, the relief of the pisiform and
80
the tubercle of the scaphoid found under the radial styloid process and distally the
hook of the bone with a hook and the tubercle of the trapezium, externally.
The metacarpus (metacarpus) constitutes the skeleton of the hand and of

the back of the hand and is fomed out of five bones, numbered from the lateral
towards the internal side from the metacarpal I, corresponding to the thumb, to the
matacarpal V. The first metacarpal is isolated from the others due to the opposition
(prehension) movement required of it. It has on its proximal extremity an articular
surface in the form of a saddle. The other metacarpals are maintained tightly and form
the palm, an anteriorly concave mass. The articular head of the metacarpals II-V, their
distal extremity, has a spherical form.
The fingers, numbered laterally from I to V, each bear a name: the thumb
or the pollex (pollex), index (index), middle (digitus medius), ring finger (digitus
anularis) and the little finger (digitus minimus). They have different lengths and
thickness and seem longer when regarded posteriorly and shorter when regarded
anteriorly. The distal extremity of the middle finger arrives at the half of the thigh,
marking the dactylion point. The bones that form the fingers are called phalanxes,
being fourteen. Each finger has three phalanxes apart from the pollex, which only has
the 1st and 2nd phalanx. They are numbered from up to down: the first one, the
proximal phalanx (phalanx proximalis), the second or the falangina, the middle
phalanx (phalanx media), the third, the end segment or the distal phalanx (phalanx
distalis). Each proximal phalanx, apart from that of the pollex, has a proximal
extremity with a gleonid cavity, which is joined with the spherical metacarpal head
and a distal one in the form of a pulley for the articulation with the falangina. The
articular extremity of the falangina with the end segment is also presented in the form
of a pulley.
The joints of the hand (articulationes manus) The first three carpal bones
from the proximal row (the scaphoid, the semilunate and the pyramidal) form an
ovoid, to which the glenoid articular surface on the inferior side of the inferior
epiphysis of the radius corresponds. Thus, the radiocarpal joint (articulatio
radiocarpeea) is formed, in which the ulna does not participate, remaining higher. The
ovalar form with the large transversal axis of the articular cavity of the radius explains
the relatively large amplitude of the flexion - extension movements and reduced one
of the abduction – adduction movements.
The mediocarpial joint (articulatio mediocarpea) unites the proximal carpal

row, with the exception of the pisiform, with the distal row. This gearing only allows
movements of flexion - extension. The double flexion of the hand in radiocarpal and
mediocarpal provides the characteristic aspect of rounding of the dorsal side of the fist
in flexion.
The carpometacarpal joints (articulationes carpometacarpeae) differentiate

clearly into the joint in a saddle of the pollex (articulatio carpometacarpea pollicis)
and the plane joints between the last distal carpals and the metacarpals II-V, in which
81
only sliding movements take place. Due to the different anatomic placement of the
pollex, a particular type of joint appears between the trapezium and the first
metacarpal. The articular surfaces are convex and concave in reverse order, having the
aspect in a saddle of an empty semicylinder moulded on a full cylinder, perpendicular
on it. The movements take place here in a double direction: abduction – adduction (in
the frontal plane) and opposition – reposition (in the sagittal plane). The thumb
opposes the other fingers, transforming the human hand in a strong claw, in order to
catch different objects and to thus realise prehension.
Fig. 69. The flexion of the hand in the radiocarpal joint, 2- the extension of the hand,
a- the metacarpophalangeal joint of the pollex, b- the carpometacarpal joint of the pollex, c-
the 1st metacarpal (of the pollex)
The metacarpophalangeal joints II-IV (articulationes metacarpophalangeae) are of a

spheroid type, resembling the scapulohumeral. The articular surfaces are the head of
the metacarpals II-IV and the glenoid cavity from the proximal extremity of the first
phalanx. Here complex circumduction movements are allowed. The proximal
interphalangeal joint (articulationes interphalangeae manus), between the phalanxes
I-II, and distal interphalangeal joint, between the phalanxes II and II, are trochlear
joints, with surfaces in the form of a pulley, with the exception of the pollex, which
only has the proximal one. In these joints only flexion movements, through which the
fingers approach the palm, and extension movements, through which these are
removed dorsally, can be executed.
82
THE SKELETON OF THE LOWER LIMBS
The free lower limbs (membri inferioris liberi) have the aspect of support
columns of the torso and present three segments: the thigh – between the pelvis and
the knee, the shank – between the knee and the ankle and the foot, the distal portion.
The skeleton of the thigh is formed by the thighbone (femur), the longest
bone of the human body, oriented obliquely downwards and medially. Thus, in the
anatomic position, when the heels are joined, the two thighbones touch each other
medially through their inferior epiphyses. The obliqueness is more stressed in women,
who have a wider pelvis, more stretched out horizontally than men.
The superior epiphysis presents the femoral head (caput femoris), a smooth
articular relief, rounded in two thirds of a sphere. This is continued by a neck (collum
femoris), oblique downwards and laterally, forming with the diaphysis an obtuse angle
of inclination of 125-130o, more closed in women. Externally to this there is a great
non-articular relief, called the great trochanter (trochanter major), which actually
constitutes the tip of the angle between the body and the femoral head. Posteriorly and
inferiorly to this there is another non-articular relief, called the small trochanter
(trochanter minor).
The body of the thighbone (the diaphysis) presents an anteriorly convex

curvature and has a prismatically triangular form, more obvious towards the
extremities, where is presents three sides and three edges. The edges are rounded, with
the exception of the very pronounced and rugged posterior one, called the rough line
of the thighbone (linea aspera). It provides insertion to the muscles of the thigh.
Superiorly, the rough line bifurcates in a lateral and a medial branch. The lateral one
goes towards the great trochanter, being called the gluteal tuberosity (tuberositas
glutea), the place where the large gluteus muscle is inserted distally. The medial
branch goes towards the small trochanter and provides insertion to the vast medial, a
component part of the femoral quadriceps. Inferiorly, the rough line bifurcates
towards the two articular condyles, delineating a triangular surface called the popliteal
side (facies poplitea).
The inferior epiphysis is a massif bulkier transversally than antero-

posteriorly, formed out of two articular, prominent, strong reliefs called condyles, a
medial one (condylus medialis) and a lateral one (condylus lateralis). The inferior
extremity of the thighbone is not horizontal, the medial condyle being narrower and
descending lower. Due to the obliqueness of the thighbone, the thigh forms with the
shank an obtuse angle of 170o, opened laterally, more stressed in women.
83
When the medial condyle descends too much there results a deformation in
X of the knees, called genu valgum, the lateral angle being of approximately 145o. The
inverse situation, when the angle between the thigh and the shank is opened medially,
the deformation in () is called genu varum.
The great
The femoral head trochanter
The femoral neck
The small
trochanter
The rough
line
The anterior
The posterior
part
part
The popliteal
triangle
The lateral
The medial epicondyle
epicondyle
The patellar The lateral
The medial
facet condyle
condyle The intercondylian
fossa
Fig. 70. The thighbone –anterior and posterior aspect.
The femoral condyles diverge posteriorly, clearly delineating the deep

intercondylian fossa. Anteriorly, these converge towards the patellar articular side, for
the knee cap. The patellar side (facies patellaris) has the form of a trochlea with a
84
vertical groove, the anterior continuation of the intercondylian fossa and an internal
and an external side, also continuing the two posteriorly prominent condyles.
1 1
2
2
Fig. 71. Pelvis. The joints: 1 – sacroiliac, 2 – coxofemoral
The coxofemoral joint (articulatio coxae) or the joint of the hip has as
articular surfaces the femoral head and the cotyloid cavity (acetabulum) on the coxal.
The hips are the lateral parts of the pelvis, at whose level the retro-trochanteric
depression is found, stressed and firmly limited anteriorly by the hard model of the
relief of the great trochanter. Being a typical spheroidal joint, the hip allows
movements around three axes:
the transversal axis- in the sagittal plane, the ample anteduction of the hip is stopped
by its meeting with the trunk but the retroduction is limited by a strong anterior
ligament.
the sagittal axis- in the frontal plane there take place movements of abduction,
limited by the cotyloid edge and by returning to the vertical, and the adduction
movement, respectively.
the vertical axis- rotation movements outside and inside. The circumduction is the
complex movement resulting from the synthesis of the four preceding movements.
The femoral head rotates in the acetabulum, the inferior extremity of the foot
describes a circle and the lower limb in its entirety a cone with the apex at the hip.
The knee cap or the patella (patella) is a wide and triangular bone with the
base up, situated in the tendon of the femoral quadriceps muscle, in the anterior part of
the joint of the knee. It presents a non-articular convex anterior side and an articular
posterior side (facies articularis), moulded on the patellar side of the thighbone,
having a vertical ridge for its head. Superiorly, the base provides insertion for the
85
tendon of the quadriceps and inferiorly the apex is continued with the knee-cap
tendon.
The skeleton of the shank is represented like the forearm by two long
bones, united through epiphyses and separated at the level of the diaphyses.
Posterolaterally there is the fibula (fibula) or the peroneus and antero-medially the
tibia (tibia), which is a much stronger bone, long and bulky, with a vertical direction.
Tibial plateau The spinal

tubercles
The fibular
head
The anterior
tibial tuberosity
The popliteal
line
The lateral side

of the tibia
The anterior
tibial ridge
The
The medial side interbone
of the tibia tibial ridge
The
diaphysis of
the fibula The diaphysis
of the tibia
The (medial)
The (medial)
tibial
tibial
malleolus
malleolus
The (lateral) fibular The (lateral) fibular
malleolus malleolus
Fig. 72. The anterior and posterior aspect of the skeleton of the
shank.
The tibia supports by itself the weight of the body, being joined superiorly
with the thighbone. It has a body in the form of a triangular prism (corpus tibiae) with
three sides and three edges and has two slight curvatures: superior, medially convex
and inferior medially concave. There results the aspect of a vertically elongated S. The
86
anterior edge, which is called the tibial ridge, comes out in bold relief as a sharp line,
which follows and emphasises the curvatures of the body. It starts high, at the level of
the anterior tuberosity on the superior epiphysis and ends low, on the medial
malleolus. The subcutaneous antero-internal side of the tibia, not covered by muscular
masses, translates on the exterior through a longitudinal depression, which spans from
under the knee to the inferior third.
The superior epiphysis is bulky, its superior side, called the tibial plateau,
has two glenoid articular cavities excavated for the two condyles of the thighbone. On
the postero-external side of the superior tibial epiphysis there is an articular facet for
the head of the peroneus. Anteriorly and slightly lower there is the anterior tuberosity
of the tibia (tuberositas tibiae), on which the knee-cap (patellar) ligament is inserted.
The inferior epiphysis has an irregularly cuboid form and presents an
inferior articular facet (facies articularis inferior), which corresponds to the talus. The
lateral side of the epiphysis presents the fibular articular hollow (incisura fibularis),
while the medial side is prolonged with a strong process, called the medial malleolus
(malleolus medialis) of the tibia. This in its turn presents externally an articular facet
for the talus.
The fibula (fibula) or the peroneus has a very thick and long body,
contrasting very powerfully with the tibia. The rounded and emphasised superior
epiphysis is called the head of the fibula (caput fibulae). This descends a level lower
than the joint of the knee. On its apex (apex capitis fibulae) is inserted the femoral
biceps. The inferior epiphysis is prominent and called the lateral malleolus (malleolus
lateralis). It descends lower than the medial one of the tibia. Its medial side (facies
articularis malleoli) is articular, for the talus. Thus, inferiorly, the two malleoli
(internal or tibial and external or fibular) thicken the shank at this level, forming the
tibiofibular box for the articulation with the talus.
The joint of the knee (articulatio genus) is the greatest mobile joint in the
human body, ensuring the change of place of the lower limbs in walking and running
but in an upright station it turns them into veritable support columns. In orthostatism,
the condyles of the thighbone lean onto the tibial glenoid cavities, forming a balance
lever of the 1st degree. When the man is kneeling or flexing the shank, the patella is
pulled downwards by the tibia, sliding on the femoral condyles, which stand on
plateaux with their posterior side. So the articular surfaces belong to the inferior
epiphysis of the thighbone (the condyles posteriorly and the trochlea anteriorly), to the
superior epiphysis of the tibia (the two glenoid cavities of the plateau) and to the
posterior side of the knee cap. Since the cavities of the plateau are shallow, they are
completed by semilunar fibrocartilages called articular menisci (meniscus lateralis et
medialis). They adapt the edges of the contact surfaces, in order to better receive the
condyles, distribute and damp shocks, increasing the concordance of the articular
surfaces.
The ligamentous apparatus catches on the edges of the articular surfaces: the
outline of the trochlea and the articular surfaces of the condyles, the edge of the knee
87
cap and the edge of the tibial plateaux. Anteriorly the articular capsule is wider,
because the flexion has a greater amplitude, until the posterior side of the shank
touches the posterior side of the thigh. However, the extension is stopped when the
shank enters the same axis as the thigh, the lower limb turning into a solid support
pillar. This is done through the intervention of the posterior ligaments but especially
of the tibial and fibular collateral ligaments. These catch superiorly onto the femoral
epicondyles, a little behind their centre. Inferiorly, the tibial one is inserted on the
internal side of the tibial epiphysis and the fibular one – on the head of the peroneus.
In this way, the extension is stopped at 180o, the joint of the knee being of the hinge
type. The collateral ligaments allow free flexion, prevent lateral inclinations and only
allow the rolling movements of the condyles of the thighbone on the tibial plateau.
The patellar
The anterior
articular facet
The intercondylian fossa
lateral The medial
condyle The anterior
condyle
The tibial
lateral The medial tuberosity
meniscus meniscus
The lateral
ligament Medial
Lateral
glenoid
glenoid
cavity
cavity
The patellar
ligament
The patellar
articular facet The anterior
intercondylian fossa
The tendon of the
A quadriceps muscle B
Fig. 73. A. The joint of the knee; B. The tibial plateau
Being the intermediate area between thigh and shank, the aesthetics of the
anterior side of the knee differ much in flexion and extension. In extension, the knee
presents medianly a suprapatellar flattening, corresponding to the tendon of the
femoral quadriceps, followed inferiorly by the triangular relief of the knee cap, then
by the median relief of the infrapatellar tendon. Laterally to these vertical convexities
there are the depressions of the articular capsule and then the reliefs of the
epicondyles, the external tuberosity of the tibia and the head of the peroneus. Through
the construction of their form, in extension the femoral condyles lean well in the tibial
glenoid cavities but have reduced contact with these in flexion, when the knee takes
on a cuboid form, very different from the one in extension. The knee cap descends by
much, leaving the form of the trochlea and the reliefs of the femoral condyles free,
which become more pronounced.
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The leg is built out of tarsus, metatarsus and, anteriorly, toes. The seven
tarsals are placed in a posterior and an anterior group. Posteriorly, the talus is laid
above the calcaneum, directly receiving the pressures of the body. The anterior group
is formed of the other five bones: internally and in front of the talus is the navicular
(the scaphoid), the cuboid is external and before the calcaneum and the three
cuneiforms are placed anteriorly to the scaphoid, towards the metatarsals.
The phalanxes
III (distal)
The phalanxes
II (median)
The phalanxes
I (proximal)
The metatarsal
bones (I-V)
The cuneiform bone I

The cuneiform bone II
The cuneiform bone III
The cuboid bone
The navicular
bone
The talus bone
The calcaneum bone

The tuberosity of
the calcaneum
Fig. 74. The dorsal and plantar aspect of the skeleton of the foot
The role of the foot of supporting the entire body adapted it for bipedal
walking. The function of support, station and movement determined the modification
of the volume, ratios and proportions of the three segments, compared to the
homologous ones from the hand. The tarsal massif (tarsus) is large, formed out of
voluminous bones, and represents half of the length of the foot, the five metatarsals
are more developed than the metacarpals but the toes are shorter, being less important
functionally than the fingers. The human-characteristic plantar vault is exactly the
adaptation to these functions. It is only obvious in the internal part, its external,
thinner edge leaning on the ground. As the dorsal sides of the bones of the tarsus are
generally wider than the plantar ones, the tarsus and the metatarsus build together an
inferiorly concave, elastic and enduring structure through two longitudinal antero-
posterior arches. The lateral one is formed out of the calcaneum, the cuboid and the
metatarsals IV and V and the medial one if formed out of calcaneum, talus, the three
cuneiforms and the first three metatarsals. The arches convey the pressures through
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their curvatures towards three supporting pillars: posteriorly- the tuberosity of the
calcaneum, antero-medially the head of the metatarsals I, II and III and antero-
laterally the head of the metatarsals IV and V.
Fig. 75. The foot, sagittal view. The supporting pillars and the
longitudinal antero-posterior arches of the foot.
The calcaneum (os calcis) represents the posterior pillar, common for the
two arches, anteriorly the arches going divergently towards the other two pillars. It is
the bulkiest in the tarsal massif, has a prismatic form with six sides, being elongated
antero-posteriorly and slightly flattened sagittally. Its superior side is articular and
presents a strong ligamentous pivot, which binds it to the talus. The talus (talus) is
placed at the tip of the tarsal massif, having a special role in the form and mechanics
of the foot. Around it there happen the amplest movements of the ankle. It is thus a
mobile piece interposed between the distal extremity of the shank (the tibiofibular
box) and the calcaneum but it is equally mobile linked to the anterior group of the
tarsals (navicular), through the talocalcaneonavicular joint (articulatio talo-calcaneo-
navicularis).
The talus is joined with the tibiofibular box thus: its superior side with
the inferior epiphysis of the tibia (the roof of the box) and the lateral sides with the
internal walls of the box, its sides being the two internal and external malleoli. There
results the supratalar or talocrural joint (articulatio talocruralis), which binds it to the
bones of the shank. In it take place the movements of locomotion: upwards – the
dorsal flexion and downwards – the extension of the foot. The flexion is more
limited because the superior side of the talus has a wider anterior part and is stopped,
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entering less the rigid tibiofibular box, which is strongly tied through ligaments. In the
extension of the foot, however, this inextensible box receives the narrower posterior
part of the talus, being able to thus protrude more deeply and allowing a play of
laterality movements. This oscillation of the shank forwards and backwards on the
curvature of the talus is possible due to the tibiofibular box, which does not occupy
anteriorly and posteriorly the whole stretch of the superior side.
Fibula Tibia
The talocrural
The internal
joint
malleolus
The The calcaneotibial
external ligament
malleolus
The The talocalcaneal
talocalcaneal joint
ligament
The
calcalneum
Fig. 76. Frontal section through the tarsal massif and the supratalar and subtalar
joints. From the posterior it can be seen how the talus is moved internally as to the
calcaneum, which comes out in bold relief laterally.
The shank only leans on the posterior third of the plantar vault through
the talus. This follows the vertical force lines conveyed by the shank and orients them
into two groups. The posteroinferior one ends at the level of the tuberosity of the
calcaneum, while the one oriented antero-inferiorly continues at the level of the
navicular, the medial cuneiform and the metatarsal I. The inferior side of the talus, an
empty spherical cap, is joined with the superior part of the calcaneum, which forms
the convexity of a full spherical cap. Thus, there results the subtalar joint (articulatio
subtalaris). Around the talocalcaneal ligamentous pivot, which binds the talus to the
calcaneum, there take place movements of (ampler) internal inclination, (more
restricted) external inclination, (greater) internal rotation and (more reduced) external
rotation. These are the foot movements of adapting to the unevenness of the ground.
The metatarsus (metatarsus) is made up of five long bones, much more
developed than the metacarpals from the hand, their numbering from I to V being
done from the medial to the lateral edge of the foot. The metatarsals are long bones
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and present a base (the posterior extremity), which is joined with the bones of the
tarsus and the neighbouring metatarsals, the elongated body and the head (the anterior
extremity), which is articular for the glenoid cavity at the base of the first phalanx.
The metatarsal of the big toe is not mobile like that of the hand, it is strong, slightly
shorter and thick. The second metatarsal is the longest. The tarsometatarsal limit,
which limits the two segments of the foot, is oblique forwards and internally and
provides a natural way of dividing it. The internal extremity (at the base of the first
metatarsal) divides the foot in two halves and the external extremity (at the base of the
metatarsal V) divides the length of the foot in three equal parts, a posterior third and
two anterior thirds.
The phalanxes, very short in comparison with those of the hand, form
the bones of the toes (ossa digitorum pedis). In flexion they converge, while in
extension they move off. In comparison with the fingers, the toes are shorter, recurved
and more widened at the tip, where they push against the ground. The toes are
numbered from I to V, from the medial to the lateral edge of the foot. The big toe
bears the name of hallux (hallux) and only has the phalanxes I and II, as opposed to
the other four, which have three phalanxes, proximal, middle and distal. The hallux is
somewhat separated from the other toes through a larger space, its axis being oriented
obliquely anteriorly and towards the outside, inversely to the direction of the latter.
Sometimes it is the longest toe, other times it is the second longest. Toe V (digitus
minimus) is always the shortest and many times it does not even touch the ground.
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THE MUSCLES OF THE TORSO are distributed to the large

structures that it is made up of: the neck (the antero-lateral group), the nape (the
posterior side of the neck), the back, the thorax, the abdomen and the pelvis.
According to how they are laid out, laterally as to, in front of or behind the vertebral
column, the muscles of the neck (musculi colli) are divided in, respectively: the
muscles of the lateral regions, of the anterior region and of the posterior region or the
muscles of the nape.
At the limit between the lateral regions and the anterior one there is the
sternocleidomastoid (sternocleidomastoideus). Prolonged and spindle-shaped, it
realises the most important mould of the neck, ascending obliquely in a diagonal from
the jugular incisure to the mastoid process of the temporal and, posteriorly, to the
occipital.
The splenius m.
Angular m.
The suprahyoid m.
Posterior scalen m.
The sternocleido –
mastoid m.
The trapezius m.
The anterior scalen The subhyoid m.
m.
Fig. 77. The muscles of the lateral region of the neck
The inferior insertion is made through two heads: a sternal, medial one on the
anterior side of the sternal manubrium and a lateral, clavicular one on the medial
portion of the collar bone. The superior insertion is made through a tendon on the
lateral side of the mastoid process and on the superior occipital line of the occipital.
The bilateral contraction determines the extension of the head backwards, while the
unilateral one inclines the head on the same side and rotates the face to the opposite
side.
93
In the anterior region of the neck, the two sternocleidomastoids determine

between them a vertical triangle with the apex down, at the jugular incisure of the
sternum, and the base up, at an imaginary horizontal line which passes through the
two angles of the mandible, through the gonion points. This transversal line, together
with the inferior edge of the mandible, also forms a horizontal triangle. In the middle
of this line, which also constitutes the common base of the two triangles perpendicular
one onto the other, there is the hyoid, a transversal bone, which is not related to the
rest of the skeleton, being situated in the thickness of the anterior muscles of the neck.
On it are inserted the hyoidean muscles, which model anteriorly the chin and the neck
in the space formed by the two triangles. Above the line are there the suprahyoids
(suprahyoidei) and beneath it there are the subhyoids (infrahyoidei). These elevate,
lower or fixate the hyoid and lower the mandible, being the superficial muscles of the
median region of the neck. They are separate vertically through the infrahyoid white
line, being symmetrical pairs: left – right.
The sternocleido- The skin

muscle of the
mastoid m.
neck
The
trapezius m.
The posterior
scalen m.
Fig. 78. The muscles of the anterior region of the neck
The subhyoid triangle is centred by the relief of the thyroid cartilage of the
larynx, Adam’s apple. In the anterior region of the neck, superficially, on the profound
side of skin, there is also the platysma (platysma) or the skin muscle of the neck. It
stretches like a trapezoid layer from the lower lip and the base of the mandible to the
shoulder and clavicle, the deltoid and the great pectoral, respectively. Through
contraction, it wrinkles the skin of the neck and pulls the labial commissures
posteriorly and laterally. It does transversal folds, thickening the neck and participates
in the mimics of horror and of sad feelings, of contempt or fear.
The superficial muscles of the posterior region of the trunk (musculi trunci) or
the muscles of the back (musculi dorsi) and of the nape (the posterior side of the
neck) bind the head (the descending trapezius), the shoulder (the middle and
ascending trapezius) or the arm (the latissimus dorsi) to the torso. The posterior side
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of the torso is limited up by the nape and inferiorly, through two oblique grooves
downwards and outwards, by flanks.
The trapezius (trapezius) has a triangular shape with the base at the vertebral
column and the apex at the shoulder, contrary to its name, that actually describes the
aspect of both muscles. They cover the region of the nape and the superior part of the
back. From high to low, the medial insertion is made on the superior occipital line, the
external occipital protuberance, the cervical ligament and the cervical spinous
processes (of the prominent, C7, being marked by aponeurotic flattening), the spinous
processes of the first ten dorsal vertebrae and on the afferent thoracal supraspinous
ligament.
Fig. 79. 16-the rhomboid, 17- the descending trapezius, 18 – the posterior scalen, 21- the
middle (horizontal) trapezius, c-the ascending trapezius, 1- the aponeurotic flattening around the
prominent 2- the spinal aponeurotic flattening, 3 – the inferior aponeurotic flattening.
95
From this vast internal origin, the fibres converge externally towards the
lateral insertion, which is on the scapular belt: the superior, obliquely descending
fibres, are inserted distally on the lateral third of the posterior edge and of the superior
side of the clavicle, contributing to the lateral outline of the nape; the middle
horizontal fibres are inserted laterally on the posterior edge of the acromion and of the
spine of the shoulder blade; the inferior, obliquely ascending fibres are inserted
laterally on the posterior edge of the spine of the shoulder blade.
4
1
Fig. 80. The latissimus dorsi (3 and 20 – the muscular body), 1- the posterior
aponeurosis originating in the thoracolumbar fascia, which convers the lumbosacral common
mass (the inferior portion of the extensors of the verterbral column); 2- the lateral insertion
on the humerus. 4- the anterior edge
The trapezius has its muscular fibres replaced with aponeuroses around the
prominent, in its inferior part and around the spine of the shoulder blade, where it
presents a depression each. Thus, the surface of the back is uneven at its level, because
of these flattening occurrences. In persons with markedly developed muscles, the
relief of the spine of the shoulder blade appears on the exterior like a real oblique
depression upwards and laterally.
96
In teenagers, women and persons with weakly developed muscles, it appears as

a prominent ridge line, which changes the planes of the region. When they take a fixed
point on the column, the descending and middle trapezius elevate the shoulder and
pull it inwardly, while the ascending portion lowers it. When it takes a fixed point on
the scapula, the descending superior fibres tilt the head on the respective side and
rotate the face to the opposite side. When the superior fascicles of both trapezii act
simultaneously, so the contraction is bilateral, the head is pulled towards the back in
extension. The middle fascicles approach the shoulder blades medially, while the
inferior ones, in the climbing action, contribute to the elevation of the body in its
entirety.
The latissimus dorsi (latissimus dorsi) is, as its name suggests, the widest
muscle of the body. It directly binds the torso with the arm, so being the main
posterior torso-humeral muscle. On the median line it is situated in the posteroinferior
part of the torso, from the sacrum to the half of the dorsal region and laterally, up to
the superior part of the arm, having therefore a triangular shape.
Internally its origin is in the thoraco-lumbar fascia, through which it is inserted
on the spinous processes of the last six thoracal vertebrae, of the lumbar vertebrae, on
the median sacral ridge and on the posterior third of the iliac ridge. From this origin,
the fibres converge externally towards the axilla: the superior one horizontally, the
middle one obliquely ascending, the inferior ones almost vertically. Then the muscle
thickens and twists, moulding onto the anterior side of the large round, with which it
forms the posterior wall of the axilla. It is inserted terminally with a short tendon on
the internal side of the intertubercular groove of the humerus (the bicipital groove).
The anterior edge is modelled through a vertical relief on the sides of the trunk
and its superior, horizontal edge is covered by the trapezius in its internal part.
Inferiorly, the great dorsal is replaced by the aponeurosis after an oblique line, which
goes from the iliac ridge to the last dorsal vertebrae. When it takes a fixed point on the
vertebral column, the latissimus dorsi acts on the humerus, lowering the arm in
adduction, rotates it inwardly and brings it back in retroduction. When it takes a fixed
point on the humerus, in climbing or tractions, it pulls the trunk after it.
The extensors of the vertebral column (erector spinae) form a muscular

complex, which occupies the paravertebral grooves from the sacrum up to the
occipital, having longitudinally elongated shapes. They bind the pelvis to the thorax,
the thorax to the cranium and, profoundly, the segments of the spine between them
through the insertions on the vertebrae. As their name suggests, they extend, tilt and
rotate the column and participate in the extension of the head and of the trunk.
Together with other synergic muscles (the glutei, the femoral quadriceps and the sural
triceps) they ensure and support the maintenance of the vertical station of the body,
being antagonists to the antero-lateral muscles of the abdomen, the flexors of the
column. In the inferior part, these muscles are undifferentiated and fused into the
sacrolumbar common mass. This lies in a bony-fibre box formed out of the
thoracolumbar fascia and the skeleton of the sacrolumbar region. It is inserted on the
last lumbar vertebrae, on the median sacral ridge, the iliac ridge, the posterior side of
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the sacrum and on the thoracolumbar fascia. Departing from here, the sacrolumbar
common mass ascends then along the column towards the thorax and the cranium.
The muscles of the shoulder or of the belt of the upper limbs (musculi cinguli
membri superioris) form a rounded relief, which covers the scapulohumeral joint. The
shoulder surpasses externally the acromion, its shape being determined by the volume
of the deltoid (deltoideus) muscle, which is separated anteriorly from the great
pectoral through the deltopectoral groove. Unfurled, the deltoid is a triangle
resembling the Greek letter delta, which accounts for its name. It is placed
superficially and rolled in the form of a cone with the base up and the apex down, at
the humerus. Superiorly, it originates in the lateral third of the anterior edge of the
clavicle, in the lateral edge of the acromion and, posteriorly, in the inferior lip of the
posterior edge of the spine of the shoulder blade, thus being inferiorly symmetrical to
the trapezius. From this vast superior origin, the anterior (clavicular) muscular
fascicles descend obliquely and backwards, the middle (acromial) ones vertically, and
the posterior (scapular) ones descend obliquely and forwards. All converge and are
inserted distally on the deltoid tuberosity from the half of the external side of the
humerus. The anterior fascicles carry out the movement of anteduction (forwards
projection) and the internal rotation of the arm and the posterior ones carry out the
retroduction (backwards projection) and its external rotation. The middle fascicle is
exclusively an abductor of the arm. The synergic action of the three fascicles
produces the elevation of the shoulder and the abduction of the arm to the horizontal.
From the horizontal upwards, the deltoid is helped by the descending trapezius.
The subscapular (subscapularis) is a triangular muscle, situated in the

subscapular fossa, so on the anterior side of the shoulder blade, where it has its origin.
From here its fibres converge laterally in a tendon, which is inserted on the small
tubercle of the humerus. It is an inward rotator of the humerus, being therefore an
antagonist to the infraspinous, to the small round and to the scapular portion of the
deltoid. When the arm is elevated, it is also an adductor.
The supraspinous (supraspinatus) occupies the supraspinous fossa of the

shoulder blade, where it also has its origin. From here, its fibres go anteriorly and
laterally over the scapulohumeral joint and are inserted through a tendon on the large
tubercle of the superior epiphysis of the humerus. It acts on the scapulohumeral joint,
being an abductor of the arm, therefore synergic to the deltoid.
The infraspinous (infraspinatus) muscle occupies the largest part of the

infraspinous fossa, where is also has its origin. From here, its fibres converge in a
tendon, which passes posteriorly to the joint of the shoulder and is also inserted on the
large tubercle of the humerus. Its action is of outward rotation of the arm, with greater
efficiency when the arm has already been rotated inwardly.
The small round (teres minor) is situated laterally from the preceding one,
with which it forms a common relief. It has its origin on the posterior side of the
shoulder blade, in the infraspinous fossa, in the neighbourhood of its lateral edge.
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From here, the muscles go laterally and upwards, passing behind the scapulohumeral
joint and the long portion of the triceps and end through a tendon on the large tubercle
of the humerus. It is also an outward rotator of the arm.
3
2
5
c
4
Fig. 81. 1- The supraspinous, 2- the subspinous (the infraspinous), 3-the small
round, 4-the great round, 5-the deltoid. a-the clavicle, b-the internal (spinal) edge of the
shoulder blade, c- the deltoid tuberosity from the half of the external side of the
humerus
The muscles of the shoulder in the profound plane are the following:
The great round (teres major) is elongated, bulky and strong. It has its
origin on the inferior angle of the shoulder blade and the inferior half of its lateral
edge. From here, its fascicles go up, anteriorly and laterally and are inserted through a
tendon on the small tubercle of the humerus, on the internal side of the bicipital
groove, a little behind the tendon of the latissimus dorsi. With it, it forms the posterior
wall of the axilla, passing together in front of the long portion of the brachial triceps.
When it takes a fixed point on the shoulder blade, it acts as an adductor and inward
rotator of the arm, therefore synergic to the latissimus dorsi and antagonist to the
deltoid. At the same time, it is a retroductor, acting in the movement of moving the
hands to one’s back. The supraspinous muscle, the great round and the small round
appear superficially in the free space between the trapezius, the latissimus dorsi and
the deltoid.
The muscles of the thorax (musculi thoracis) are represented in the

superficial plane by the muscles, which bind it directly to the arm. The great pectoral
(pectoralis major) is the anterior torso-humeral muscle, placed symmetrically as to the
median line, in the superior part of the thorax. It is formed out of three muscular
fascicles different through their medial origin: - the superior or clavicular fascicle
(pars clavicularis) has its origin on the medial half of the anterior edge of the clavicle;
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- the middle, sternocostal fascicle (pars sternocostalis) departs from the

anterior side of the sternum and from the cartilages of the first six true
ribs;
- the abdominal fascicle (pars abdominalis) departs from the sheath of the
abdominal right.
Fig. 82. The great pectoral. 1- the clavicular portion, 2- sternocostal, 3-abdominal.
From this vast medial insertion, the three fascicles converge towards the
arm and overlap, turning about. The inferior ones pass under the superior, clavicular
ones and through a common tendon they are inserted laterally on the ridge of the large
tubercle of the superior epiphysis of the humerus (the external side of the bicipital
groove). Thus, the great pectoral forms the bulky anterior wall of the axilla.
The clavicular portion is separated from the deltoid through the delto-
pectoral groove and the infraclavicular fossa. The form of the pectoral at rest is
quadrilateral, the four edges being: supero-external or deltoid, superior or clavicular,
internal or sterno-abdominal and infero-external or axillary. The form of the relaxed
muscle, when the arms are stretched horizontally and laterally, is triangular, because
the deltoid edge becomes horizontal from an oblique position and continues the line of
the clavicular one, being identical with it.
The action of the great pectoral, when it takes a fixed point on the thorax, is
of strong adduction, especially when the arm is already horizontal, in abduction. In the
anatomic position, it impresses the arm with a movement of internal rotation and
anteduction, being part of the group of the pronators of the hand. When the muscle has
a fixed point on the humerus, it intervenes in the action of climbing, elevating the
100
thorax and with it the entire body. In contraction, the inferior, abdominal fascicle
lowers the shoulder, while the superior, clavicular one, elevates it.
Fig. 83. The serratus anterior a- the radiar fascia, b- horizontal, c-the
descending fascicles.
The serratus anterior (serratus anterior) occupies the largest part of the lateral
regions of the thorax. From the first ten pair of ribs, it goes under the shoulder blade to
its medial edge. It is thus mostly hidden by the shoulder blade and the muscles of the
shoulder and appears only through three-four fascicular fingering occurences between
the external oblique, the latissimus dorsi and the great pectoral. Through its tonicity, it
fixes the scapula onto the thorax. When it takes a fixed point on the thorax, it pulls it
forwards and laterally and applies it onto the thorax, removing its medial edge from
the verterbral column. It takes on relief in any energetic movement of the arm. Its
region is limited outwardly by the vertical relief of the external edge of the latissumus
dorsi and down by the cartilaginous edge of the thorax and the superior groove of the
flank. Its characteristic model is given by the intermingling of its external fingering
occurences with those of the external oblique of the abdomen, which weave their
reliefs with the less oblique ones of the ribs.
The abdomen inserts itself as a more flexible area, realised bonily posteriorly
by the lumbar column, between the rigid volumes of the thorax and the pelvis. An
anterior region (the abdomen proper), the posterior (lumbar) region and the lateral
regions of the flanks can be described for it.
101
2
3
Fig. 84. The directions of the antero-lateral muscles of the abdomen, a texture which
conveys great endurance to the abdominal wall: horizontal and profound of the transversal,
ascending medially and middle of the internal oblique, medially descending and superficial of the
external oblique and vertical of the abdominal right. The abdominal rights: 1-the sternum, 2-the
xiphoid process, 3-the costal cargilage, 4-the aponeurotic flattening at the level of the navel, 5- the
pubic simphysis
The flanks contain the inferior parts of the external obliques, departing
from the inferior limit of the ribs, where there is the superior groove of the flank, to
the iliac ridge, where there is its inferior groove. The lumbar region (the hips) has the
shape of a rhombus with the superior sides formed by the latissimus dorsi muscles and
the inferior ones by the reliefs of the large glutei. Anteriorly and laterally, the
abdomen is limited superiorly by the inferior edge of the thorax, and inferiorly by the
pubis. It is mostly modelled at the exterior by it muscular walls. They form a belt
which supports the viscera, from thorax to pelvis, through the intersection of the
different directions of their fibres.
The muscles of the abdomen (musculi abdominis) are typically wide,

formed out of a muscular portion and an anterior or posterior aponeurotic one. In the
case of the internal oblique, the external oblique and the transverse, these posterior
aponeuroses form together with that of the latissimus dorsi the thoraco-lumbar fascia.
The abdominal right (rectus abdominis) has a very elongated triangular

shape, stretched vertically, with the apex on the pubis and the base up, at the antero-
inferior part of the thorax. It is symmetrical, on both sides of the median line, the
white line of the abdomen. This, together with the aponeurotic flattening occurrences
specific to it, form for it a strong support for traction and solidarization with the lateral
102
muscles (the external and internal obliques). Superiorly it inserts on the cartilages of
the ribs V, VI and VII and on the xiphoid process. From here, the fibres descend and
insert distally between the pubic symphysis and the pubic tubercle. This muscle is
situated in a sheath formed anteriorly by the fascia of the great oblique and posterior
by the transverse muscles. Its muscular body is interrupted by horizontal aponeurotic
flattening occurrences at the level of the navel, the 9th and 7th rib, obtaining a classical
polygastric aspect. The navel is a little pit, situated at the level of the iliac ridges and
at half the distance between the xiphoid process and the pubis, in the centre of which
there is a tubercle. The subumbilical part of the rights is narrowed by much, so that its
external edge becomes oblique downwards and inwards and the lateral groove
between it and the external oblique widens into a triangular aponeurotic flattening.
The abdominal right is a flexor of the thorax on the pelvis and when it takes a fixed
point on the ribs, it flexes the pelvis onto the thorax, being a flexor of the torso,
therefore an antagonist to the extensors of the vertebral column.
The transverse abdominal muscle (transversus abdominis) is a wide

muscle, situated profoundly, in the antero-lateral wall of the abdomen. Its origin, from
up to down, is done posteriorly on the cartilages of the last six ribs, on the transverse
processes of the lumbar vertebrae, on the anterior half of the iliac ridge and the lateral
third of the inguinal ligament. It contributes thus, together with the latissimus dorsi
and the external oblique, to the formation of the thoraco-lumbar fascia. From this
origin, the fibres of the transverse go horizontally forwards, girdling the body and
tightening it like a belt, and inserts terminally on the anterior aponeurosis. It is the
most important muscle of the abdominal press.
The abdominal external oblique muscle (obliquus externus abdominis) is

the vastest and most superficial of the lateral muscles of the abdomen. It has its origin
on the external side of the last eight ribs, through fingering occurrences which
alternate with the less oblique ones of the serratus anterior. From the origin, the
muscular fascicles go obliquely downwards and internally, extending on the entire
antero-lateral wall of the abdomen. The posterior ones, departed from the last two ribs,
have an almost vertical direction, inserting distally on the iliac ridge. The others
continue with the aponeurosis of the oblique, after a vertical line from the inferior
angle of the great pectoral to the antero-superior iliac spine. Its fibres, mostly, go
internally up to the median line, where they are fused vertically with their symmetrical
counterparts, forming the anterior blade of the sheath of the right and the white line of
the abdomen, a strong vertical girth.
Between the abdomen and the thigh, there stands out in the aponeurosis of
the external oblique a very enduring fibrous formation which doubles the anterior side
of the coxal, called the inguinal ligament of the femoral arch. In bilateral
contraction, the external oblique bends the torso and flexes the thorax on the pelvis.
When the fixed point is at the superior insertion on the thorax, it flexes the pelvis onto
it. Through the contraction on one side only, it tilts the torso and determines its
rotation, carrying the anterior side of the thorax to the opposite side of the contracted
muscle.
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Fig. 85. The antero-lateral muscles of the abdomen A – the transverse, B- the
internal oblique, C- the external oblique .1-the abdominal right, 2-the profound sheet of
the sheath of the rights, 3-the sacro-lumbar common mass (the inferior portion of the
extensors of the vertebral column), 4- the thoracolumbar fascia, 5- the superficial sheet of
the sheath of the rights, 6-costal insertion of the latissmus dorsi, 7-the fingering occurrences
of the serratus anterior, 8-the abdominal right, 9-the inguinal ligament (after Ghiţescu)
The internal oblique muscle (obliquus abdominis internus) is situated

under the external oblique, having the direction of the fibres inverse to it. It has its
origin through fibres that come off backwards to forwards, from the antero-superior
iliac spine and from the lateral half of the inguinal ligament. From this origin, the
muscular fibres radiate with an inverse direction to that of the external oblique: the
posterior ones go almost vertically on the inferior edge of the last three ribs, the
middle ones go horizontally and end on the anterior aponeurosis, contributing to the
formation of the sheath of the right and of the white line, while the anterior fascicles
go medially and inferiorly, uniting with the aponeurotic fibres of the transverse. The
bilateral contraction with a fixed point on this inferior insertion produces the flexion
of the thorax on the pelvis, and when the fixed point is on the ribs, it produces the
flexion of the pelvis on the thorax. The unilateral contraction with a fixed point on the
inferior insertion has an inverse action to that of the external oblique: it tilts the torso
on its side and rotates the thorax, also carrying its anterior side to its side, being here,
too, the antagonist of the external oblique on the same side and the synergic of the one
on the opposite side.
The posterolateral muscles of the pelvis are laid with the muscular body
at the level of the pelvis and with the inferior extremity they insert distally on the
superior epiphysis of the thighbone, on the two trochanters and the superior
bifurcation branches of the rough line of the thighbone. For this reason, these muscles
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are also called pelvitrochanteric. They form a muscular agglomeration around the
coxofemoral joint, being short and strong. Their volume is separated from the
posterior abdomen through the inferior groove of the flank.
10
Fig. 86. 7- the small gluteus (situated in the profound plane), 8- the middle
gluteus, 9- the tensor of the fascia lata, 10- the large gluteus
The gluteus maximus (gluteus maximus) is the bulkiest superficial muscle

of the buttock region, having a quadrilateral form with the following edges: the medial
edge (internally convex), lateral (externally convex, surrounding the great trochanter),
the very thick inferior edge corresponds partly to the fold of the buttock, the thin
superior edge covers the middle gluteus, with whose relief it continues. The origin of
the gluteus maximus is on a surface which begins on the external iliac fossa and the
posterior portion of the iliac ridge, on the sacroiliac ligaments and continues on the
thoracolumbar fascia and the posterior part of the sacrum. From this vast pelvic origin,
its fibres converge downwards and laterally and insert distally on the gluteal
tuberosity of the thighbone (the lateral bifurcation branch of the rough line) and more
inferiorly on the cover fascia of the thigh, called fascia lata (fascia lata). This
surrounds the muscles of the thigh like a muff and presents laterally a thickening like
a fibrous ribbon well-differentiated in its structure called the iliotibial tract (tractus
iliotibialis). This has superiorly a triple origin: posteriorly from the fascia of the large
gluteus, anteriorly from the distal aponeurosis of the tensor of the fascia lata and at the
middle from the aponeurotically thickened fascia of the middle gluteus. The iliotibial
tract descends then on the lateral part of the thigh, over the external vast of the
quadriceps and inserts inferiorly on the lateral tuberosity of the tibia, on the head of
the fibula and on the patella.
105
Being situated behind the coxofemoral joint, the gluteus maximus is the
strongest extensor of the pelvis on the thigh. When it takes a fixed point on the pelvis,
it is an extensor of the thigh, external rotator, abductor through the lateral portion and
adductor through the internal one, respectively. It is a pre-eminently antigravitation
muscle, preventing the trunk from falling forwards. It acts efficiently from the flexion
position, elevating the tilted body from the horizontal to the erect position. When
passing to extension, its relief is emphasised on the limb stabilised as a straight
support column, the buttock taking on a semilunar shape. Being part of the triple
extension chain, when the entire lower limb has been flexed in the three main joints,
it has a capital role in elevating the trunk on the vertical, extending against the weight
of the body. Inversely, in the flexion of the torso, when the abdominal muscles
contract, an antagonist effect to the extensors of the column is realised, which in their
turn brake the flexion.
The middle gluteal muscle (gluteus medius) has a triangular shape with
the base higher than the preceding one and the apex facing down, being covered in the
posteroinferior half by the large gluteus. It has its origin in the external iliac fossa and
on the corresponding portion of the iliac ridge (two thirds anterior up to the antero-
posterior iliac spine). From here its muscular fascicles converge in a fan and insert
distally on the great trochanter. Its anterior edge borders the tensor of the fascia lata.
The gluteus minimus (gluteus minimus) also has a triangular shape but is
placed profoundly compared to the first two. It also has its origin on the external iliac
fossa and the distal insertion also on the great trochanter, together with the middle
one. Having a fan disposition, too, we shall thus differentiate with both of them
posterior fascicles of the two muscles, which have the same direction as the large
gluteus and action of extension and outward rotation of the thigh, anterior fascicles,
which have the same direction as the tensor of the fascia lata and action of flexion and
inward rotation of the thigh (antagonist to the former) and middle fascicles, which
produce a strong abduction of the thigh as the total action of each one of them.
The tensor of the fascia lata (tensor faciae latae) has its origin on the
antero-posterior iliac spine, goes downwards, externally and backwards, passes over
the large trochanter and inserts distally on the iliotibial tract, the aponeurotic
thickening on the external side of the thigh. Through it, it acts from a distance on the
fascia lata, the knee and the shank. It is a flexor and abductor of the thigh and distally
it flexes the extended knee or continues its flexion if other muscles acted beforehand.
The muscles of the upper limbs (musculi membri superioris) are

distributed on the three structures known from osteology: arm, forearm and hand. The
muscles of the arm (musculi brachii) Anteriorly, superficially there is the relief of the
brachial biceps, elongated in relaxation and globe-like in contraction, and profoundly
the coracobrachialis and the anterior brachial. The brachial biceps (biceps brachii) is
a long, spindle-shaped muscle, with the origin on the scapula through two distinct
heads: the short head (caput breve) on the coracoid and the long head (caput
longum) on the supraglenoid tubercle.
106
a
b
c
8
8
h
e
Fig. 87. 7- the coracobrachialis, 8-the anterior brachialis, 9- the brachial biceps, a-
the long head of the biceps, b- the short head of the biceps, d- the bicipital groove (the
intertubercular grooove), e- the distal insertion of the biceps on the bicipital tuberosity of
the radius, h-the bicipital aponeurotic expansion which covers the origin of the
epitrochelar muscles (the flexors of the forearm, of the hand and fingers on the anterior
side of the forearm)
The tendon of the latter descends then through the bicipital groove, where it is
covered by the great pectoral, which inserts on the external side of the groove. These
heads merge in a spindle-shaped muscular body, which descends on the anterior side
of the arm and inserts distally through a tendon on the bicipital tuberosity of the
radius. Of the medial part of this tendon there comes off the bicipital aponeurotic
expansion, a fibrous sheath which covers the origin of the epitrochlear muscles.
Passing over two joints, the biceps acts both at the shoulder on the arm (adduction
through the short head and abduction through the long head) and at the elbow on the
forearm (the flexion of the forearm onto the arm).
The anterior brachialis (brachialis) is a wide muscle, situated on the

anterior and inferior part of the arm, to which it gives width, having a sagittally
flattened shape in muscular individuals and approximatively cylindrical in women,
teenagers and persons with weakly developed muscles. Being behind the biceps, it
creates a support for it. It has its origin on the deltoid tuberosity, beneath the insertion
of the deltoid, and on the lateral and medial sides of the humerus. From here the
muscular fibres descend, passing before the elbow and insert distally at the base of the
coronoid process of the ulna. It is a strong flexor of the forearm on the arm.
107
The coracobrachialis (coraco-brachialis) is situated medially as to the

short head of the biceps. It has its origin through a tendon common with it on the
coracoid process of the scapula. The fascicles descend from here and insert distally at
the middle of the medial side of the humerus. It is an adductor and an anteductor
(forwards projector of the arm), being visible on its internal side, especially when the
arm is elevated.
Fig. 89. 6-the deltoid,8-the anterior brachialis,9-the brachial biceps,10-the triceps, 11-the
anconeus, 16-the ulnar flexor of the carpal muscle, 17-the long palmer, 18- the radial flexor of
the carpal muscle 19- the pronator round, 25-the long radial extensor of the carpal muscle, 26-
the short radial extensor of the carpal muscle, 27-the common extensor of the fingers, 28-the
extensor of the little finger, 29-the ulnar extensor of the carpal muscle, 30-the brachioradialis; h-
the bicipital aponeurotic expansion which covers the origin of the epitrochlear muscles (the
flexors of the forearm, the hand and the fingers on the anterior side of the forearm), x
(anteriorly)- the flexor retinaculum, x (posteriorly)- the extensor retinaculum, f- the palmar
aponeurosis (after Barcsay)
108
On the posterior side of the arm there is the brachial triceps (triceps brachii).
This is bulky and, as the name says, formed out of three portions. The long head
(caput longum) has its origin on the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula, from where it
descends and forms the body proper of the muscle. It is then joined by the fibres of
the lateral head (caput laterale) and of the medial head (caput mediale), which have
their origin on the posterior side of the humerus, above and below the oblique torsion
groove, respectively. From here, the three muscular portions descend and insert
distally through a strong common aponeurosis on the posterior side of the olecranon
of the ulna. The posterior side of the arm is thus more complexly modelled, due to the
three muscular bodies. Their unevenness is more pronounce in contraction, when
inferiorly there appears the flattening corresponding to the common aponeurosis,
bordered superiorly and internally by the strong relief of the long portion and supero-
externally by the more attenuated relief of the external vast. Infero-internally, this
aponeurotic flattening is limited by the internal vast.
b
c
a b
10
c
11
11
Fig. 88. 10- the brachial triceps, 11- supinator from the lateral group of
the muscles of the forearm, a- the medial head, b- the lateral head, c- the long
head
The triceps is an extensor of the forearm onto the arm and, through the long
head, which comes all the way from the scapula, it is a retroductor and an adductor of
the arm to the torso. To summarise, the synergic or antagonistic action of the six
muscles of the shoulder and of those of the arm progresses thus: the projection
forwards or the anteduction is executed by the clavicular portion of the deltoid, the
great pectoral and the brachial biceps. The projection backwards or the retroduction
is executed by the scapular portion of the deltoid, the latissimus dorsi, the large round
and the long portion of the triceps. The abduction is ensured by the deltoid, the
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supraspinous and the long head of the biceps. The adduction is realised by the two
large muscles of the axilla (the pectoral and the latissimus dorsi), the short head of the
biceps and the long head of the triceps, helped by all the muscles of the shoulder
(except the deltoid and the supraspinous). The inward rotation is done first of all by
the subscapular, supported by the great pectoral, the latissimus dorsi and the large
round. The rotation outwards is given by the infraspinous and the small round.
The muscles of the forearm (musculi antebrachi) have globe-like muscular

bodies in the proximal part of the forearm and long tendons in the distal part. They are
grouped in three regions: anterior, posterior and lateral.
The lateral region of the forearm is modelled superficially by muscles with the
origin on the external edge of the humerus. From here, their bodies outline and give
the external roundness of the region of the elbow, descend on the lateral edge of the
forearm and insert distally on the radius or the base of the metacarpals II and III.
The brachioradialis (brachioradialis) is superficial and the strongest muscle of

this group. It has its origin on the lateral edge of the humerus. From here, its muscular
body descends on the lateral edge of the elbow and forearm and inserts distally at the
base of the styloid process of the radius. It is a strong flexor of the forearm onto the
arm and a supinator when the forearm is in pronation and a pronator when it is in
supination.
The long radial extensor of the wrist (extensor carpi radialis longus) has its
origin on the lateral edge of the humerus, lower than the preceding one. Its muscular
body is continued from the middle of the forearm with a tendon which descends
through the most lateral groove on the posterior side of the distal extremity of the
radius and inserts distally at the base of the metacarpal II. It is a flexor of the forearm
onto the arm and a supinator, extensor and abductor of the hand.
The short radial extensor of the wrist (extensor carpi radialis brevis) partly
covered by the long extensor. It has its origin on the lateral humeral epicondyle, lower
than it, after which its body goes parallelly to the radius, its tendon passes through the
internal groove of the radial posterior side and inserts distally at the base of the
metacarpal III. It is a flexor of the forearm onto the arm, supinator and only an
extensor of the hand.
The anterior side of the forearm presents internally the volume of the
epitrochlear muscles (muscles with the origin on the epitrochlea of the humerus).
Being placed in a superficial, superior plane, their volume is covered obliquely by the
aponeurotic expansion of the tendon of the brachial biceps, which impresses a
depression in its itinerary. Their orientation on the anterior face of the forearm is
obliquely descending and external. After their tendons pass underneath the
retinaculum of the flexors, they insert on the skeleton of the hand and fingers and in
contraction determine the flexion of the fingers, of the hand onto the forearm and of
the forearm onto the arm. The retinaculum of the flexors (retinaculum flexorum) is a
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quadrilateral fibrous ribbon, stretched transversally between the two distal extremities
of the skeleton of the forearm.
Fig. 90. 16-the ulnar flexor of the wrist, 17-the long palmar , 18- the radial flexor of the wrist,
19- the pronator round, 25-the long radial extensor of the wrist, 26-the short radial extensor of the
wrist, 27-the common extensor of the fingers, 28-the extensor of the little finger, 29-the ulnar
extensor of the wrist, 30-the brachioradialis
The round pronator muscle (pronator teres) is the most lateral muscle in
the superficial plane, having its origin on the epitrochlea and on the medial side of the
ulnar coronoid process. After an oblique downwards and lateral trajectory it inserts
distally on the middle part of the lateral side of the radius. As the name says, it is a
pronator of the hand, and, through the humeral insertion on the epitrochlea, a flexor of
the forearm onto the arm.
The flexor carpi radialis muscle (flexor carpi radialis) also has its origin on
the medial epicondyle (epitrochlea). Its fascicles go downwards and outwards and
around the middle of the forearm they converge in a tendon, which passes behind the
retinaculum of the flexors and inserts distally at the base of the metacarpal II. It is a
flexor of the forearm onto the arm and of the hand on the forearm, a pronator and
abductor of the hand.
The long palmar muscle (palmaris longus) has its origin on the epitrochlea,
being placed medially as to the preceding one. Its muscular body continues with a
long tendon, which, however, passes before the retinaculum of the flexors and then
widens like a fan in the palm, turning into the palmar aponeurosis. It is a flexor of the
hand onto the forearm and of the forearm onto the arm.
111
The flexor carpi ulnaris muscle (flexor carpi ulnaris) has its origin through
the humeral head (caput humerale) on the medial epicondyle (epitrochlea) and
through the ulnar one (caput ulnare) on the medial edge of the olecranon. It then has a
parallel trajectory to the ulna and its muscular body continues with a tendon, which
inserts distally on the pisiform bone. It is a flexor of the forearm onto the arm and a
flexor and adductor of the hand.
In the posterior region, superficially, there are the extensor muscles of the
forearm onto the arm, of the hand on the forearm, and of the fingers. Due to the fact
that they have their origin on the lateral epicondyle of the humerus, they are called
epicondylian. The volume realised by these on the posterior side of the forearm goes
obliquely downwards and internally (inversely as to the epitrochlear). These also have
short and globe-like bodies and continue with long tendons. These pass beneath the
retinaculum of the extensors (retinaculum extensorum), a transversal strengthening
band with a quadrilateral shape, which inserts medially on the posterior sides of the
ulna, the pyramidal and the pisiform and laterally on that of the radius.
The extensor digitorum muscle (extensor digitorum communis) is the most

external one, having its origin on the lateral epicondyle. Its muscular body distally
makes for and is divided in four fascicles, that are each continued through a tendon
towards the fingers II-V. These pass underneath the retinaculum of the extensors and,
at the level of the metacarpophalangeal joints, they send a fibrous expansion each,
which inserts on the proximal phalanx. Each tendon is then divided in three tendinous
branches: the median one fixes on the dorsal side of the middle phalanx and the others
unite and stick on the dorsal side of the distal phalanx. It is an extensor of the distal
phalanx on the middle one, of the middle one onto the proximal, of the proximal onto
the metacarpal and of the hand onto the arm.
The extensor digiti minimi muscle (extensor digiti minimi) is situated

medially as to the preceding one, which it is usually fused with. It has its origin on the
lateral epicondyle, its muscular body continuing with a tendon, which passes beneath
the retinaculum of the extensors. It then goes along the metacarpal V and inserts
distally on the last two phalanxes of the little finger, fusing with the tendon coming
from the common extensor of the fingers, destined for the little finger. To it it gives
extra extension, also contributing to the extension of the hand.
The extensor carpi ulnaris muscle (extensor carpi ulnaris) has its origin on
the lateral epicondyle (caput humerale) and on the posterior edge of the ulna (caput
ulnae). Its tendon passes through the groove of the distal epiphysis of the ulna and
inserts distally at the base of the metacarpal V. It is an extensor of the forearm onto
the arm and of the hand onto the forearm and an adductor of the hand.
112
Fig. 91. The palmar aspect of the hand, with the reliefs of the thenar and hypothenar
eminences and the grooves that limit them, configured resembling the letter M
The anconeus (anconaeus) is small, triangular, inserted proximally on the

lateral epicondyle and distally on the posterior side of the olecranon. It is only an
extensor of the forearm.
The hand is the distal segment of the upper limbs and has a complex
articular and muscular apparatus, corresponding to the diverse repertoire of
movements, from the finest to those that require special force. The dorsal side only
presents the tendons of the extensors, the muscles of the hand being placed only on the
palmar side and in the interbone spaces. Here the muscles are grouped in three
regions: a lateral one, called the thenar eminence, found at the base of the thumb,
formed out of the muscles which serve it; a more elongated medial region, called the
hypothenar eminence, formed out of the muscles which serve the little finger, and
the middle region, the palm proper, a depression limited inferiorly by the transversal
relief found at the level of the metacarpophalangeal joints and laterally by the two
eminences which approach superiorly, constituting the root of the hand. The shape of
the palmar side is determined both by these reliefs and the depression limited by them,
and by the four folds impressed through the movements of opposition and flexion of
the fingers. These folds are as follows: the groove of the pollex, which outlines the
thenar eminence internally, the transversal groove of the last three fingers, the
longitudinal groove, which departs from the root of the hypothenar eminence towards
the index and the oblique groove, which goes from the inferior extremity of the
thenar eminence towards the middle of the ulnar edge of the palm.
113
Fig. 92. Auguste Rodin – The cathedral (left); Albrecht Dürer

– study drawing of hands
As a whole, these are configured resembling the letter M, the verticals

being given by the groove of the pollex and the transversal groove, which deepen
much in the flexion of the hand and of the fingers onto the hand. Through their
aesthetic qualities, expressiveness and specific gesturing, man’s hands have impressed
artists along the centuries, either as an independent theme or mostly associated to the
face (the compositional portrait). The various anatomic particular features enable them
to carry out a diverse range of movements, from the roughest ones (prehension) to the
ones requiring ability (writing), to the virtuosity of performing on several instruments,
modelling, drawing, etc.
THE MUSCLES OF THE LOWER LIMBS (musculi membri

inferioris) are distributed at the level of the thighs, shanks and foot. The muscles of the
thigh (musculi femoris) are grouped around the thighbone, so that it is completely
covered in muscular masses. Thus, the skeletal marks of the thigh remain only the
great trochanter and the two epicondyles of the inferior epiphysis of the thighbone.
The large convexity of the anterior part of the thigh is due both to the muscular relief
of the muscles in the antigravitational chain and to the oblique direction and to the
anteriorly convex curvature of the thighbone that they are placed on. The thigh is
thicker sagittally in muscular individuals, presenting three bulky masses
114
corresponding to the muscular groups: anterior (the quadriceps and the sartorius);
internal (the adductors) and posterior (the hamstring muscles).
The femoral quadriceps (quadriceps femoris) takes its name after the four
heads of origin: the medial vast, the lateral vast and the intermediate vast
(uniarticular) and the fourth one, the femoral right (biarticular, up high it also passes
over the coxofemoral joint). Down, the four portions converge in a single tendon,
which includes the knee cap (the patella) and inserts through its infrapatellar tendon
on the anterior tuberosity of the tibia. The three vast muscles surround the body of the
thighbone completely, only leaving the interstice of the rough line free for the
insertion of the adductors and of the short portion of the femoral biceps. The femoral
quadriceps is the strongest muscle of the body. Within in, the rectus femoris muscle
(rectus femoris) is a bipenniform muscle with the origin on the antero-inferior iliac
spine of the coxal. The vastus lateralis (vastus lateralis) is the bulkiest of the vast
muscles and the most highly placed, ascending on the lateral lip of the rough line up to
the large trochanter.
14
11 11
12 13
12
Fig. 92. The muscles on the anterior side of the thigh 11- the vastus lateralis, 12-the
vastus medialis, 13- the vastus intermedius, 14- the rectus femoris muscle
The vastus medialis (vastus medialis) sticks on the entire stretch of the
rough line. Its inferior, bulkier portion descends to the medial edge of the patella and
115
forms, when the muscle is relaxed, a rounded and globe-like prominence, situated
medially and a little above the knee.
The vastus intermedius (vastus intermedius) is the profound portion of the

quadriceps, situated directly on the body of the thighbone, on which it inserts. The
superficial side of the vastus intermedius together with the other two vast muscles
forms a vertical pipe for the rectus femoris muscle. The terminal tendons of the four
portions of the quadriceps form a unique tendon, which includes the patella and
surpasses it downwards, forming the patellar tendon, which gives the distal insertion
of the entire quadriceps, on the anterior tuberosity of the tibia. It acts on the knee with
the force of all four components, as an extensor of the shank onto the thigh. The
impressive development of the quadriceps is justified through its antigravitational
role, characteristic for human orthostatism. Together with the other muscles of the
triple-extension chain, it intervenes in all movements through which the already flexed
knee extends, elevating the trunk vertically against gravitation. Alone the rectus
femoris muscle, being biarticular, also acts on the joint of the hip, being a flexor of the
thigh on the pelvis, its abductor and external rotator.
The sartorius (sartorius) is the longest muscle of the body, stretching

from the pelvis to the shank. It is also a biarticular muscle, because it acts on two
joints (hip and knee). It has its origin on the antero-superior iliac spine, from where its
parallelly placed fascicles go obliquely downwards and medially and go round the
vastus medialis of the quadriceps and the medial epicondyle of the thighbone. The
inferior insertion is done through an aponeurotic expansion on the medial side of the
superior epiphysis of the tibia, through the triangular plane called the goose’s foot (pes
anserinus). This is formed out of the terminal aponeuroses of the sartorius, the
semitendinosus and the gracilis muscle (a muscle from each group of the thigh). As an
action, it is mainly a flexor of the thigh on the pelvis (together with the rectus femoris
muscle), weak rotator outwards and abductor of the thigh. Although it is placed in the
diagonal, in the anterior region of the thigh (anteriorly as to the hip and posteriorly as
to the knee), its particular trajectory in the inferior part makes it be a flexor of the
shank onto the thigh and an internal rotator of the shank.
In the medial region of the thigh there are the adductors. This group
contains the muscles that intercalate internally, like a feather between the anterior and
posterior muscles of the thigh. Functionally, they belong to the coxofemoral joint, as
the muscles of the pelvis, because with the exception of the gracilis they are
uniarticular, short muscles. They stretch, filling the triangular space limited superiorly
by the inferior part of the pelvis, by the thighbone laterally and medially by the line
that unites the pubic symphysis with the medial side of the knee. They are better
developed superiorly, forming in their totality a triangular pyramid with the apex
down, at the level of the medial epicondyle of the thighbone. The origin of the
adductors circumscribes the obturated hole of the coxal. From here, the adductors
have ever longer fascicles and ever closer to the vertical, the more medially they are
placed. On the thighbone they insert on its posterior part, beginning underneath the
small trochanter, along the rough line. Being placed medially, as their name says, all
116
the muscles in this group have as a main action the adduction of the thigh, being
therefore antagonists of the small and middle gluteus and of the tensor of the fascia
lata.
The gracilis, the only biarticular muscle in this group, is also a flexor and
inward rotator of the shank onto the thigh. Its distal insertion is made, as already
mentioned, on the internal side of the superior epiphysis of the tibia through the
goose’s foot.
23
20
15 22
21 19
Fig. 93. The muscles of the internal side of the thigh 19, 20, 21, 23 – adductors,
22- the gracilis
In the posterior region of the thigh there are three long, biarticular muscles,
with a common origin of the ischiatic tuberosity. Down, they separate into two
groups: the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus maintain their medial
placement and descend on the tibia, while the femoral biceps goes laterally and
inserts distally on the head of the fibula. The semitendinosus is muscular in the
superior half and tendinous in the inferior one, while the semimembranosus is the
117
other way around, membranous up and muscular down, offering a support to the
former. The distal insertion of the semitendinosus on the internal side of the superior
epiphysis of the tibia is done through that triangular aponeurotic expansion called the
goose’s foot (per anserinus), together with the gracilis and the sartorius. Their
divergent inferior trajectory delineates superiorly the popliteal fossa.
35
17 18
16
17
18
16
31
31a
36
29 37
Fig. 94. The posterior muscles of the pelvis, thigh and shank. 8- the middle gluteus, 9-
the tensor of the fascia lata, 10-the large gluteus, 16-the semimebranosus, 17- the
semitendinosus, 18- the femoral biceps, 29-the interal malleolus, 31- the triceps surae
muscle, 31a- the soleus muscle, 35- the iliotibial tract, 36- Achilles tendon, 37- the external
malleolus
118
After their insertions on the pelvis and on the shank, respectively, the posterior
muscles of the thigh are also called hamstrings. Being biarticular, the solidarize the
action of the coxofemoral joint with that of the knee. They are antagonists of the
femoral quadriceps, on the coxofemoral joint being extensors, while on the knee –
flexors. In the position of flexion of the knee they also have a rotative component on
the shank: the two medial muscles rotate it inwardly, while the biceps outwardly.
Through their action of extensors in the joint of the hip, the hamstrings intervene in
the vertical station and in walking, maintaining rectitude on the lower support limb
and preventing the torso from falling forwards.
The muscles of the shank (musculi crulis) are grouped asymmetrically around
the two bones (the tibia and the fibula), so that the antero-internal side, the ridge of the
tibia (the anterior edge) and the two malleoli remain uncovered by muscles. As with
the forearm, the proximally placed muscular bodies continue with long tendons which
pass underneath the inferior retinaculum of the extensors, providing the shank with
the characteristic shape of a cone trunk with the base up. The posterior region of the
shank is modelled superficially by the sural triceps, composed of three muscular
bodies. The two gastrocnemian muscles (the twins) are laid posteriorly on the soleus
muscle, which they surpass laterally and medially. They are tightly adherent to the
skeleton of the shank through their aponeuroses of lateral insertion. The internal one
descends lower and is bulkier, which makes it the only visible one on the outline of
the shank seen from the front.
The gastrocnemian muscles (gastrocnemii) or the twins have their origin

superiorly on the corresponding femoral epicondyle, through two isolated heads, a
lateral one (caput laterale) and a longer and stronger medial one (caput mediale). The
two superior heads of origin of the twins delineate inferiorly the rhombic space of the
popliteal fossa (the posterior side of the knee). This is limited superiorly by the distal
tendon of the femoral biceps (externally) and by the distal tendons of the
semitendinosus and semimembranosus (internally). Through their double superior
origin on the thighbone, the gastrocnemian muscles are biarticular, also acting on the
knee, as flexors of the shank onto the thigh. The relief of their fused muscular body
ends abruptly with a very characteristic outline and inserts distally on the calcaneum
together with the soleus muscle, through Achilles calcaneal common tendon (tendo
calcaneus Achillis). This is the strongest and largest tendon of the human body, its
lateral outline being emphasised by the fact that between it and the volumes of the
malleoli depressions, called retro-malleolar fossae, are formed.
The soleus (soleus) is a thick muscle, situated on a more profound plane than
the gastrocnemian muscles. Up it has its origin on the posterior sides of the tibia and
fibula. Its body forms a support for the two twins, while the distal tendon fuses with
theirs in the Achilles tendon. As a whole, the sural triceps has an action of strong
extension, adduction and supination (elevating the internal edge) of the foot. Within
the chain of the triple extension, the sural triceps intervenes in elevating and
maintaining the body in orthostatism. The soleus has short fibres and is uniarticular,
providing force. The direction of the movements resulting from the action of the
119
muscles of the shank onto the foot is determined by the placement of the distal
tendons at the level of the neck of the foot, as to the two movement axes of the joints
of the talus: in the talocrural joint, all muscles which pass before the transversal axis
are flexors. The ones behind the axis, the peroneal muscles and the sural triceps are
extensors of the foot. In relation to the oblique axis of the talonavicular joint, all
antero-lateral muscles do pronation and abduction and the ones situated postero-
medially do the supination and the adduction of the foot.
31
33
26
36
24
32
37
Fig. 95. The superficial muscles of the antero-external region of the shank: 24-the
long extensor of the toes, 25 –the long extensor of the hallux, 26- the anterior tibial, 31- sural
triceps, 32- short peroneal, 33 – long peroneal, 36- Achilles tendon, 37-retinaculum
The muscles of the anterior region of the shank are extensors of the toes and flexors
of the foot, inserting distally on the tarsals and at the base of the metatarsals.
Superficially there is the anterior tibial (tibialis anterior), the most medial and the
bulkiest. It has its origin on the lateral side of the tuberosity of the tibia and on the
interbone membrane. Its muscular fascicles converge towards a tendon which passes
beneath the inferior retinaculum of the extensors and inserts on the first cuneiform and
on the base of the first metatarsal. It is the strongest flexor of the foot and a supinator
120
under certain conditions. Together with the long peroneal muscle it forms a girdle
which support the plantar vault. The long extensor of the hallux (extensor hallucis
longus) is a pennate muscle, situated between the preceding one and the long extensor
of the toes. It is an extensor of the both phalanxes of the hallux and has the action of
dorsal flexion onto the foot. The long extensor of the toes (extensor digitorum longus)
is a long and flattened muscle, situated laterally to the preceding ones.
The lateral region of the shank is modelled superficially by the two peroneal
muscles.
The short peroneal muscle (peroneus brevis) has its origin on the lateral side
of the inferior half of the peroneus. Its tendon surrounds the external malleolus and
goes distally to insert on the tuberosity of the metatarsal V. It is an extensor, abductor
and pronator of the foot by elevating its lateral edge.
The long peroneal muscle (peroneus longus or fibularis longus) is superficial
and the longest of the two, having its origin on the head and the lateral side of the
fibula. Its tendon forms at the middle of the shank and is very long. It descends
towards the lateral malleolus, goes round it posteriorly, crosses then the tendon of the
short peroneal muscle, passes obliquely on the lateral side of the calcaneum, then goes
round the lateral edge of the foot, pierces obliquely the planta down to its medial edge,
where it inserts on the base of the first metatarsal and on the first cuneiform. It is the
strongest pronator and abductor of the foot. Lowering the medial edge and elevating
the lateral one, it stresses and supports the vault of the foot. The planta (the sole) is
the part of the foot which leans on the ground. Its shape is given posteriorly by the
volume of the calcaneum, continued anteriorly with the external edge and the
transversal relief of the base of the toes, corresponding to the metatarsophalangeal
joints and to the anterior extremity of the metatarsals. The external part of this relief
prolongs posteriorly and makes the toes appear shorter when they are regarded from
the plantar side. Its artistic aspect is given by three characteristic muscular groups,
corresponding to the three bony support pillars. The internal edge follows the
curvature of the concavity of the plantar vault, while the lateral edge is almost straight.
121

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Tiberiu Vlad, Raluca Minea Artistic anatomy and morphology

ANATOMY AND MORPHHOLOGY:

Fig. 1. Rembrandt – sketch. Female model posing in the workshop

Fig.2. Gottfried Bammes – Laboratory of artistic anatomy

directions on a plane. The sectioning of a sphere with a plane is a circle, irrespective

architectural function. The external modelling or the artistic function is ensured

- first-degree levers (the balance) in which the support

Fig. 4. A. Leonardo da Vinci –drawing from manuscripts (Windsor);

The counter-position or the asymmetrical station (related to the hip) is

Fig. 6. A. Constantin Brâncuşi – Prayer;

Balance is the fundamental condition necessary to achieving any station, the

General orientation terms (termini generales)

The main antero-posterior (sagittal) axis corresponds to the thickness of the

Therefore, the study of the locomotor apparatus contains three parts:

The articular cavities respond to the inversely conformed articular

Fig. 12. Types of muscles, depending on the mode of placement

Fig. 13. Types of muscles classified according to their shape.

Fig. 14. Michelangelo - ecorche (left); Gottfried Bammes – ecorche (right)

Fig. 15. Jean-Antoine Houdon, ecorche called The Fying Man,

on the blackboard while speaking, the construction of the region or of the

Fig. 16. Constantin Brancusi - ecorche

Fig. 18. Gh. Ghiţescu – ecorche

Fig. 19. Prof.dr. Vasile Coţofan – Ecorche of a horse jibbing

Before a portrait, even the model’s parents and

THE ARTISTIC ANATOMY OF THE HEAD

The anatomy and morphology of the cranial base and vault

The anatomy and morphology of the face

The inferior jaw or the mandible (mandibula) is also situated medianly

The frontal bone

The temporal pit

The temporal bone

The eye socket

The nasal cavity

The zygomatic bone

The jaw bone

Fig. 25. The cranium

Fig. 27 Campere’s facial angle. Comparative drawing of the profiles of a

brevi-morphic body, whereas a dolichomorphic cranium is associated with a

The main morphological elements of the face are:

The eye, from a morphological point of view, is a spheroidal prominence laid in a

The eyebrow can be found on the corresponding eyebrow bossa. The

The concha is limited posteriorly by the antihelix, a curved relief, placed

The temporal (temporalis) is the most powerful masticatory muscle and

The masseter (masseter) is a powerful, quadrilateral and thin muscle,

Fig. 36. The muscles of the head

forms two profound vertical wrinkles, specific to the mimics of pain. A

The frontal Temporal

The skin muscle of

Fig. 37. Mimic muscles

in crying, depending on the muscles with which it acts on the commissure

Fig. 39. Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875). Experiments of electric

Regarded extensively, the entire locomotor apparatus also has an expressive

The main expressions have as a mechanism the contraction of specific muscles,

Fig. 41. Bruegel –The peasant wedding, illustrative

The inner attention is the mimics of the intimate concentration on work,

Profound meditation is marked through the contraction of the superior orbital

Fig. 43. The expression of pain on Laocoon’s face, determined by the

Pain is translated though generalised, defensive contractions, localised

In adults, beside the construction and the bony architectonic particular

a reiterative return to a constant mimic mask, proper to the portrayed character, is

As opposed to these, the profound resemblance reveals the individual

Physiognomy attempts to establish relations of correspondence between the

The psychologising portrait infers specifically the physiognomy, without