Frank H.

Netter

Frank Henry Netter (25 April 1906 – 17 September 1991) was an American surgeon and medical
illustrator. The first edition of his Atlas of Human Anatomy — his "personal Sistine Chapel"[1] — was
published in 1989; he was a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine where he was first
published in 1957.[2]

Biography
Early life, training, and medical career
Frank Henry Netter was born in Manhattan at 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue, and grew up wanting
to be an artist. In high school, he obtained a scholarship to study at the National Academy of Design,
doing so at night while continuing high school. After further studying at the Art Students League of
New York and with private teachers, he began a commercial art career, quickly achieving success
and doing work for the Saturday Evening Post and The New York Times. However, his family
disapproved of a career as an artist and he agreed to study medicine. After getting a degree at
the City College of New York, he completed medical school at New York University and a surgical
internship at Bellevue Hospital and attempted to begin practicing medicine. [1] However, as Netter put
it: "This was in 1933—the depths of the Depression—and there was no such thing as medical
practice. If a patient ever wandered into your office by mistake, he didn't pay." [3]

Early medical art career

Having continued doing freelance art during his medical training, including some work for his
professors, he fell back on medical art to supplement his income. In particular, pharmaceutical
companies began seeking Netter for illustrations to help sell new products, such as Novocain. Soon
after a misunderstanding wherein Netter asked for $1,500 for a series of 5 pictures and an
advertising manager agreed to and paid $1,500 each - $7,500 for the series - Netter gave up the
practice of medicine.