Brambilla was a personal physician to Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and the first director of the Vienna hospital and the Josefinum school for military surgeons (now a medical museum). Brambilla provided a history of surgical instruments from antiquity to his own time. His work includes 67 plates illustrating over 600 surgical and dental instruments in their original size. Brambilla commissioned three sets of instruments corresponding to the plates in his book. These instrument sets are preserved at the Museo Gaileo, at Vienna, and at the University of Pavia museum. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.