A morbid fascination

I was Wiki-wandering this morning when a link took me to the Museum of Zoology and Natural History in Florence, Italy, better known as La Specola. While poking around there, I came across its Anatomical Waxes section (an English translation of the page is here).




This has a fascinating collection of wax and other models of the human body, either already open to expose the internal organs, or with a removable torso panel that exposes them on demand. I don't want to post one directly, because it might be offensive to some folks and therefore is probably not safe for work: but if human internal anatomy interests you, particularly its display in antiquity, click here for an example of such a model.

Other paintings and models show details of the surface of the body beneath the skin, with nerves, blood vessels and other features depicted in medical-school detail. They were apparently created in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, partly as conversation pieces in well-educated households, partly as educational material for medical students. Many photographs of the collection may be found here. (CAUTION: The pictures may appear shocking to sensitive viewers, although they're intended to be more educational than gruesome. They're probably not safe for children or work.)

I found a description of a 2008 exhibition of these pieces at the Getty Villa in California, which told me a bit more about them.

The Getty Villa in Malibu, California has an interesting show up called "The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present." The exhibition showcases the many ways artists have used color in figural sculpture for centuries, and, to my excitement, includes an actual Anatomical Venus from the famed La Specola collection in Florence!

Anatomical Venuses are life-sized wax anatomical models of idealized women, extremely realistic in appearance and often adorned with real hair and ornamental jewelry. These figures consist of removable parts that can be "dissected" to demonstrate anatomy -- a breast plate is lifted to reveal the inner workings of the mysterious female body, often with a fetus to be found nestling in the womb. This was a way to share anatomical discovery with a larger audience without the need for an actual human dissection.

Anatomical Venuses are probably the most historically popular form of anatomical models; in the 19th-Century, they were the centerpiece of museums and itinerant shows of all kinds, and possessed great power to draw crowds. The 18th-Century Florentine Venuses are the best remembered today, in no small part due to Taschen's Encyclopaedia Anatomica, and are considered, by some, to be the finest examples of Anatomical Venuses known to exist.

This Anatomical Venus featured in the Getty show, completed in 1782 by Clemente Susini and his workshop, is truly a masterwork of the genre ... one of the finest, and almost never leaves her home in Florence -- she has only been transported twice in her long history, and even has a specially-built traveling case to protect her delicate wax body. This means that, sadly, you will not see her in her original setting -- an elegant rosewood and Venetian glass case -- but the relative accessibility of the piece (i.e. in the United States) should make up for this lack.

. . .

... if more people knew of these Venuses and other anatomical models, they would be seen as intriguing artworks and cultural documents, worthy of a greater amount of study as well as inclusion in the medical art canon.

There's more at the link.

I never knew these anatomical waxworks existed! The things you learn while Wiki-wandering . . .

Peter