Anatomic models
Artists eager to create representations of the human body employed many different varieties of media, including bronze, ivory, wax, and paper-mache (meaning chewed paper). Ecorché statuettes, or flayed anatomic models, were popular during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries while beautiful eighteenth century wax models can still be seen on display at the Specola Museum in Florence, Italy.
Ivory model by Stephan Zwick (seventeenth century)
These ivory manikins were usually between six and seven inches long, and the internal organs sometimes could be taken out for examination.
Bronze statuette by Ludovico Cigoli (1559-1613)
wax female abdominal anatomy from La Specola (ca. 1780)
Gaetano Guilo Zumbo was the first to make colored wax models in Bologna during the latter part of the seventeenth century, and Italian craftsmen improved upon his techniques the following century, creating some of the finest wax models ever made. Clemente Susini carried on this specialized craft in the eighteenth century, aided by the fine anatomist Paolo Mascagni. The wax figures had to be individually carved, and it took up to two hundred cadavers to make one model because of the lack of adequate preservation.
wax muscleman from La Specola (ca. 1780)
wax model of cranial nerves by Emil Korschi (ca. 1880)
wax superficial muscles of the thorax and abdomen by G. Zeiller (ca. 1880)
Daguerreotype of Dr. Louis T.J. Auzoux and paper-mache model (ca. 1860)
Louis Thomas Jerome Auzoux (1797-1880) addressed the demand for anatomic models in a different way by creating paper-mache representations of body parts, occasionally greater than life-size. Auzoux was a French medical graduate, though he never practiced medicine, preferring to supply anatomic figures to medical schools in Europe, England, and the United States. He took colored strips of paper and used either hide glue or natural resins to form full figures and anatomic parts for his models.
female paper-mache female anatomic model by Auzoux (1881)
The life-size female model pictured is posing as Venus de Milo, and all the muscles and organs are labeled.
male paper-mache anatomic model by Auzoux (ca. 1880)
This smaller male model currently resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
Beauchene anatomic model
"Exploded skulls" for demonstration were first manufactured by French anatomist Beauchene in the middle of the 19th century.
model of the brain by Auzoux
This ninteenth century model by Auzoux was made of plaster rather than the usual paper-mache,
Pilz Anatomical Manikin
This is a life-size paper manikin that that could be viewed in layers to demonstrate deeper sections of the body.
American Frohse Anatomical Charts by AJ Nysrom and Co.
This is one of ten early 20th century anatomic charts illustrating all parts of the body.
flap anatomical manikins by various makers (ca. 1900)
As the population grew rapidly at the beginning of the twentieth century, the increased need for study materials could only be met through mass production. The artistry of wax and paper-mache figures was lost forever, giving way to “flap” models with the anatomy of each organ revealed as a layer of paper or metal was peeled off from the one above.
Flap anatomies (ca. 1880–1910): (top) Yaggy’s Anatomical Study by I.W. Yaggy and J.J. West, Smith’s
American Manikin by Elias Smith, MD, Pilz Anatomical Manikin by American Thermo-Wave Co., NY; (bottom) Bodyscope by Ralph Segal, NY, Dr. Minder’s Anatomical Manikin of the Human Body by American
Thermo-Wave Co., NY, Philip’s Model of the Human Body (Female) by George Philip and son, London