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

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used as three-dimensional teaching aides to the anatomy studies <strong>of</strong>fered at universities such as Pavia and Padua, included in aristocratic private museum collections, and used as training aids for army surgeons. The collections <strong>of</strong> both the Josephinum in Vienna and the military hospital in Montpellier were commissioned from Felice Fontana and created by the most famous <strong>of</strong> the wax modellers who worked at La Specola, Clemente Susini (1754-1814) in conjunction with anatomist Paolo Mascagni (1753 –1815) and Francesco Calenzuoli (1796- 1829). 56 Although the printing <strong>of</strong> anatomical texts was established in the northern cities <strong>of</strong> Leiden and Amsterdam, the three-dimensional representation <strong>of</strong> man was an Italian innovation. As Goethe wrote in the late eighteenth century after visiting Florence: We are dealing with plastic anatomy. It has long been practised for many years in Florence at a high level. However, it can neither be undertaken nor prosper anywhere but where sciences, arts, taste, and technique are perfectly at home and engaged in living activity. 57 arrangements which were discussed regarding the making <strong>of</strong> specific models for outside collections. See Knoefel, 1979, 219–233. 56 Lemire, 1992, p. 289. 57 Goethe, 1964, p. 366.
The quotation demonstrates Goethe’s awareness that this form <strong>of</strong> anatomical collection was an important addition to a city’s cultural status as much as a reflection <strong>of</strong> its cultural sophistication. Production <strong>of</strong> wax models Like the relationship between Desnoues and Zumbo, Fontana’s relationship with the artists within the wax workshop <strong>of</strong> La Specola was a tense one. Fontana regarded the wax artists as tools in the service <strong>of</strong> science, and allowed them little in the way <strong>of</strong> artistic license. 58 Mazzolini’s recent research on the workshop dynamics and recruitment <strong>of</strong> artists shows that artists with sculptural skills were enlisted to model the figures, while day labourers were used to refine the wax and work with the moulds. 59 There was, therefore, hierarchy in the creation <strong>of</strong> the wax models; at the top the director or anatomist who determined which part was to be represented, then the artist who would make aesthetic contributions, and at the bottom the labourers who worked under the guidance <strong>of</strong> the artists. <strong>An</strong> example <strong>of</strong> Fontana’s models at La Specola is a Reclining Female Figure (Fig. 13) created by Clemente Susini in the late eighteenth century, Martin Kemp aptly describes this as being ‘in the attitude <strong>of</strong> expiring ecstasy as she goes to meet the 58 Mazzolini, 2004, p. 52. 59 Mazzolini, 2004, p. 56.
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 and 18: paintings and antiquities that he s
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Page 21 and 22: was his desire to portray the body
Page 23: In 1775 the Imperial Royal Museum <
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
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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
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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
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Page 67 and 68: List of Illustrati
Page 69 and 70: Fig. 25 Jean-Antoi
Page 71 and 72: Appendix. The Tramond Company in Pa
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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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