Since I went to see Exquisite Bodies at the Wellcome Museum last year, I have fallen in love with nineteenth century anatomical models. Art and Science coexists in them. They are delicate and precise, morbid, beautiful. They are exquisite pieces of work to show us the developments of anatomy. They were born out of a necessity for anatomical models which would not rot, there were no fridges then, and also out of a shortage in real corpses, much on demand in a period of booming investigation. I fancy they are kind of tragic, these open bodies, vulnerable to inspection, exposed to thousands of prying eyes.
This Anatomical Venus rests in the Natural History Museum in Florence, Italy. I have found the pictures in the web titled Anatomical Theatre, a virtual museum of anatomical models and medical artifacts ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. To see and read more about this fascinating world click on the images below.
Click here to see the Anatomical Theatre site.
Click here to see images of the theatre installation
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