Free Fun Vintage Skeleton Illustrations To Print

With Halloween not far away, I thought it would be fun to curate a wonderful fun collection of vintage skeleton illustrations.

Skeletons are popular both as decoration and a costume idea for Halloween. On Halloween night, the image of skeletons and skulls is everywhere.

The insides of humans are considered scary, especially when they are only bones walking around. Like ghosts, skeletons are associated with death, which is why they are associated with Halloween.

Did you know that a human is born with 270 bones on its skeleton, which then shrinks to about 206 bones in adulthood as some fuse together?

The human skeleton performs six major functions; support, movement, protection, production of blood cells, storage of minerals, and endocrine regulation.

A Collection of Antique Anatomical Free Skeleton Pictures

Frame these vintage skeleton pictures, and you will have an excellent addition to your Halloween decorations. These anatomical drawings would look great on the walls all year round. They would be great for use with any Halloween crafts and DIYs.

To download a higher resolution of the skeleton illustration you want, just click on the title above and the image will download to your computer.

There is also a collection of human skull drawings available to download on Pictureboxblue.

The Antique Anatomical Skeleton Illustrations

1. 1839 Human Skeleton And Skulls

This great skeleton illustration and skull drawings are from “A System of Anatomy For The Use Of Students Of Medicine (Volume 1)”. This book by Casper Wistar was published in 1839.

For those of you are interested there is a key relating to the skeleton figures.

Fig. 1. A Front View of the Male Skeleton. A, The os frontis. B, The os parietale. C, The coronal suture. D,The squamous part of the temporal bones. E, The squamous suture. F,The zygoma. G, The mastoid process. H, The temporal process of the sphenoid bone. I, The orbit. K, The os malse. L, The os maxillare su-perius. M, Its nasal process. N. The ossa nasi. O, The os unguis. P,The maxilla inferior. Q, The teeth, which are sixteen in number in eachjaw. R, The seven cervical vertebrae, with their intermediate cartilages.S, Their transverse processes. T, The twelve dorsal vertebra?, with their intermediate cartilages. U, The five lumbar vertebrae. V, Their trans-verse process. W, The upper part of the os sacrum. X, Its lateral parts. The holes seen on its forepart are the passages of the undermost spinal nerves and small vessels. Opposite to the holes, the marks of the original division of the bones are seen. Y, The os il

2. 1690 Skeleton Picture

This image is by the Dutch physician and anatomist Govard Bidloo, in 1690. Judging by the size of the skull on this skeleton drawing in relation to the rest of the body, I would think this is a drawing of a child’s skeleton.

3. 1849 Human Skeleton Illustration

A wonderful example of the human skeleton from the seminal book “Dictionnaire Universel d’histoire Naturelle” published in 1849.

I’ve already shared some wonderful animal prints and images from this famous book by Charles d’Orbigny.

4. 1759 Illustration “Traite d’osteologie”

Another child skeleton drawing this time by the Scottish surgeon and anatomist, Alexander Monro.

5. Allegory of Death; Skeleton

This wonderful illustration is believed to be from 1690 it is from the collection at the Welcome Trust.

6. Comparative View of Human & Elephant 1860

These are interesting skeleton illustrations comparing the skeleton of a human with that of an elephant. The drawing is by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins 1860.

7. Skeleton Illustrations – “Tableau of Injected Vessel“

Another fabulous piece of skeleton art from the Welcome Trust. This one is by Frederik Ruysch the Dutch anatomist.

8. George Stubbs Skeleton Illustration

I love the pose of this human skeleton. It almost looks like the skeleton is dancing. It is from the book “A Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the Human Body with that of a Tiger and a Common Fowl“.

9. 1690 Anatomical Skelton

Another vintage skeleton image from 1690.

10. Dancing Skeletons

A delightful vintage Halloween art print of dancing skeletons from the Rijksmuseum collection. A woodcut print by Michel Wolgemut from 1493.

Other Skeleton Halloween Ideas

Here is a fun tutorial for an illuminated DIY skull decor for Halloween on Pictureboxblue. The same tutorial would also work well with one of these fabulous vintage skeleton illustrations.

There is also a Halloween patent of an anatomical skeleton.

If you liked this post you might also want to check out these other free vintage image collection.

• Vintage Halloween Postcards
• Natural History Posters of Adolphe Millot