Colombo was a pupil of Vesalius, and succeeded him in the chair of anatomy at Padua before proceeding to chairs first at Pisa and later at Rome. His book, published just after his death, rectified a number of anatomical errors. He described the pulmonary circulation, but may possibly have read the account of Servetus published six years previously. He gave a clear description of the mode of action of the pulmonary, cardiac, and aortic valves. The only illustration in this work is the fine woodcut title page influenced by the title page of Vesalius's Fabrica , and suggesting the relief by Donatello entitled The Heart of the Miser. Colombo met Michelangelo in 1547 and supposedly he attempted to commission Michelangelo to illustrate this book. Unfortunately that project never transpired. English translation of the section on pulmonary circulation in John Banister, The historie of man sucked from the sappe of the most approved anathomistes.… London, John Daye, 1578. English translation of book XV by R.J. Moes and C.D. O’Malley, Realdo Colombo. “On those things rarely found in anatomy”, Bull. Hist. Med., 1960, 34, 508-28. Digital facsimile of the 1559 edition from Google Books at this link.