Through its active stance, this ecorché (literally, a "flayed" figure) becomes a living cadaver. The pose, drawn from classical statuary, provides an excellent opportunity to display the muscles in action, notably seen here in the differing tensions and movements of the shoulder, neck, and thigh muscles. The ecorché demonstrates the practice of anatomical representation that arose during the Renaissance from an interest in the human body and its functions. Vesalius' illustrated anatomy book, De humani corpis fabrica libri septem, was published in 1543 and established the activated flayed corpse as the dominant type of anatomical representation. It remained such until the Borghese Gladiator was discovered around 1610 (a cast of which can be seen in this gallery). This provided a new model for the study of muscular anatomy with an intact, healthy body.