Calcar, Jan Steven van (1499-c. 1550)

German painter and woodcut designer. Perhaps first trained in the Netherlands, he moved to Venice 1536, where he became a disciple - or, at least, fell under the influence - of Titian. He provided the illustrations for Vesalius' anatomy book De Humani Corporis Fabrica/On the Construction of the Human Body (1543).

His illustrations for De Fabrica - which, Vasari acclaimed, ‘must do him honour for all time’ - show dissected cadavers in dramatic action, reproducing the gestures and poses of living beings.

His paintings are often confused with those of Titian, but one of the best documented examples of his style is his Portrait of Melchior von Brauweiler of Cologne (1540, Louvre, Paris). In 1545 Vasari met him in Naples, where Calcar died.