Cousin, Jehan. Livre de pourtraiture. (Paris: Jean Leclerc, 1608).
Jehan Cousin ("le jeune," or "the younger") was born in Sens, France around 1522, the son of the famous painter and sculptor Jehan Cousin ("the elder," ca. 1490–ca. 1560) who was often compared to his noted contemporary, Albrecht Dürer. Having trained to become an artist under his father, Jehan le jeune showed as much talent as his father, and their work is nearly indistinguishable even to the expert. Just before his death, Jehan the Elder published his noted work Livre de Perspective in 1560 in which he noted that his soon would soon be publishing a companion entitled, Livre de Pourtraicture.
While there have been some reports that an edition of Livre de Pourtraicture was fist printed in 1571 and again in 1589, no copies appear to exist. Instead, the most likely first printing of the work was 1595 in Paris by David Leclerc, with woodcuts engraved by Jean Leclerc, just after Cousin le jeune's death. The book is one of the most famous on the subject of artistic anatomy and was printed again and again into the late 17th century.
Further Reading:
Choulant, L. History and bibliography of anatomic illustration. Trans. and annotated by Mortimer Frank. (New York: Hafner, 1962). P. 359.
Dictionnaire de biographie française. (Paris: Letouzey et Anâe, 1933- ). Entry for: Cousin, Jehan.
Mortimer, R. Harvard College Library Department of Printing and Graphic Arts catalogue of books and manuscripts. (Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1964- ). French Books, Vol. 1, p. 199.