Ramón y Cajal in the Underdrawing
Fact sheet:
Year: 2025
Pages: 195 pp.
ISBN: 978-84-669-3989-8
ISBN (PDF): 978-84-669-3990-4
Colection: Institutional Activity
Edition: Vicerrectorado de Cultura, Deportes y Extensión Académica, Factum Foundation y ECRA.
The book Ramón y Cajal in the Underdrawing examines the study, contextualization, and reappraisal of the collection of teaching canvases conceived by Santiago Ramón y Cajal for university instruction in histology and the anatomy of the nervous system. This significant collection, hitherto scarcely disseminated or studied, forms part of the holdings of the Complutense University of Madrid. The volume is structured into several sections that analyze, from complementary perspectives, Cajal’s figure as a scientist, educator, and draftsman, the role of these paintings in the medical pedagogy of his time, and their historical, scientific, and artistic significance.
The publication is part of a research, digitization, and conservation project promoted by the Complutense University of Madrid, with the support of the Ramón y Cajal Abogados Foundation and the collaboration of Factum Foundation. This project has enabled the physical recovery of the works, their study of technique, and their documentation using high-resolution digital technologies, thereby ensuring their preservation and dissemination.
The high-resolution digitized images reproduced here constitute a central axis of the book. Their analysis provides insight into the fundamental role of graphic representation played in the formulation and dissemination of Ramón y Cajal’s discoveries, highlighting the close relationship between science and art that characterizes his legacy.
