A Body of Evidence: An Art Historical perspective on Eighteenth and ...

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demonstrations were possible. 36 For Desnoues the decaying corpse was not an object <strong>of</strong> contemplation on the frailty <strong>of</strong> life, but rather a practical limitation on scientific anatomy. He wanted to distance the audience from the horror <strong>of</strong> seeing a corpse, in order that it might concentrate on the workings <strong>of</strong> the human body as the product <strong>of</strong> the working Creator. He wrote: What greater success can one wish for in the arts and sciences than to find the secret <strong>of</strong> imitating the works <strong>of</strong> the Creator by demonstrating the anatomy <strong>of</strong> the human body in relief without exciting the feeling <strong>of</strong> horror men usually have on seeing corpses. 37 Zumbo must have seemed a natural choice to Desnoues, who wanted to overcome the decay problems associated with dissection by having the corpses that he had dissected carefully copied in coloured wax. Desnoues had previously attempted injecting coloured wax into the veins and arteries <strong>of</strong> prepared body parts, but with limited success. Zumbo and Desnoues established a partnership in Genoa both for knowledge and for pr<strong>of</strong>it. As public interest in dissection grew, Desnoues and Zumbo realised that there were aristocratic patrons who wanted 36 Burmeister, 2000, p. 31. 37 Lettres de G.Desnoues, Pr<strong>of</strong>esseur d’<strong>An</strong>atomie, & de Chirurgie, De l’Academie de Bologne; et de Mr Guglielmini, Pr<strong>of</strong>esseur de Médecine & Mathematiques a Padoue, Rome. 1706 as quoted in Lightbown, 1964, p. 565.
anatomical models for their private collections and museums. 38 This partnership was one that clearly required the input <strong>of</strong> both scientist and artist, both bringing to their creation skills and knowledge from their respective fields. As chief surgeon <strong>of</strong> the hospital in Genoa and Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> <strong>An</strong>atomy and Surgery to the Republic, Desnoues would have followed an established format in the dissection <strong>of</strong> cadavers along the lines <strong>of</strong> the Vesalian division <strong>of</strong> the body. 39 Similarly, the manner in which Zumbo created his models would have been informed by his training and artistic skills with wax, since the making <strong>of</strong> moulds and careful tinting <strong>of</strong> the layers <strong>of</strong> wax were skills that Zumbo had perfected in the process <strong>of</strong> creating his dioramas. 40 This partnership was one that exemplified the necessary contribution <strong>of</strong> both disciplines and led to similar partnerships throughout the subsequent history <strong>of</strong> wax anatomical models. The alliance between Zumbo and Desnoues would, however, founder in a quarrel over the authorship <strong>of</strong> the models. 41 Desnoues laid claim to the initial idea and to the decision to portray the figures as ‘recently dead’, and condemned an early work that Zumbo created as being morbid and unusable. Zumbo on the 38 Lightbown, 1964, p. 563. 39 Lightbown describes the manner in which Desnoues dissected and prepared his bodies for demonstration every week, <strong>of</strong>ten highlighting veins and arteries by injecting them with coloured wax. Lightbown, 1964, p. 565. 40 Zumbo most likely adapted his methods <strong>of</strong> using a combination <strong>of</strong> clay figures and real parts moulded and then cast. It is suggested that he painted the flesh colour into the mould and then poured the molten wax into the mould when the pigment was still wet. This allowed the surface <strong>of</strong> the wax to absorb the colour and maintain a depth <strong>of</strong> hue that was more translucent and realistic than if it had been overlaid with pigment. Harvard, 1936, p. 320. 41 Harvard, 1936, p. 318.
Page 1 and 2: A Body of<
Page 3 and 4: 1. Introduction. 2. The Emergence <
Page 5 and 6: The anatomical models were made by
Page 7 and 8: epresent Adam standing with his ski
Page 9 and 10: Vitruvius’ architectural treatise
Page 11 and 12: dissected with his own hand, depict
Page 13 and 14: dissection, which were based largel
Page 15 and 16: ook made it prohibitive to the ordi
Page 17: paintings and antiquities that he s
Page 21 and 22: was his desire to portray the body
Page 23 and 24: In 1775 the Imperial Royal Museum <
Page 25 and 26: The quotation demonstrates Goethe
Page 27 and 28: part. 62 The way that the body was
Page 29 and 30: Chapter Two -The Model Audience. Bu
Page 31 and 32: The distinction between dissection
Page 33 and 34: Skeleton emerges from the grave (Fi
Page 35 and 36: needs of each <str
Page 37 and 38: anatomical models in the ennobling
Page 39 and 40: sexually alluring, as Jordanova cla
Page 41 and 42: Écorché models of</strong
Page 43 and 44: most representations of</st
Page 45 and 46: the number of corp
Page 47 and 48: problems relating to disease. Moula
Page 49 and 50: particularly by the medical world t
Page 51 and 52: models began to be made which were
Page 53 and 54: figure considered too close to real
Page 55 and 56: nude that was dominating the shows
Page 57 and 58: Specific models of
Page 59 and 60: There is still, however, an aesthet
Page 61 and 62: valued in the eighteenth century. I
Page 63 and 64: Conclusion. We can see from the ear
Page 65 and 66: The co-operation in the art schools
Page 67 and 68: List of Illustrati
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Fig. 25 Jean-Antoi
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Appendix. The Tramond Company in Pa
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suggesting that it is a replacement
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Descartes, 1901: René Descartes Di
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Leoussi, 1998: Athena Leoussi, Nati
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Acknowledgements. I would like to t
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