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

“maker” <strong>of</strong> such a divine contraption’. 60 The body shape <strong>of</strong> the model is rounded
and pallid, the eyes open and the features <strong>of</strong> the face are attractive. The healthy
nature <strong>of</strong> the body is emphasised by the beauty <strong>of</strong> the external features. The skin
is clear, the colouring is normal and the hair is long and lustrous. The way that
this model is conceived is no longer attached to the earlier allegories <strong>of</strong> death and
dissection. Instead there is a desire by the makers to engage with the scientific
pursuits <strong>of</strong> the Enlightenment and to represent a more idealised female form.
The anatomical waxes were surrounded in the museum by anatomical drawings
and examples <strong>of</strong> other natural history subjects from fungi to plants and flowers. 61
Therefore although the models were commissioned for a range <strong>of</strong> uses outside <strong>of</strong>
the museum, they were still constructed to represent the ideal specimens as a
part <strong>of</strong> the natural history that was broadly collected and displayed within La
Specola.
The production <strong>of</strong> models at La Specola required a series <strong>of</strong> coordinated steps
that began with the decision on which part <strong>of</strong> the anatomy was to be reproduced.
It is apparent that many <strong>of</strong> the models were greatly influenced by the poses and
sections used in famous anatomical illustrations <strong>of</strong> the time such as those by
Vesalius. However, although the anatomical and poses may have followed the
stance <strong>of</strong> figures in the engravings, it is evident from the detail <strong>of</strong> the interior
organs that each model corresponded to the careful dissection <strong>of</strong> a real body
60 Kemp and Wallace, 2000, p. 61.
61 Haviland and Parish, 1970, p. 56.