Upon examining the anatomical models made in early modern Europe, Ron Miller sees an age-old tension between realism and idealism:
Those [wax anatomical figures] made by Italian artists were usually refined with everything that could provoke repulsion or disgust in the viewer removed. Models from northern countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or Germany were usually more realistic, almost brutally so, leaning more toward anatomical accuracy than aesthetics. Italian models seem more ‘alive’ while those from the United Kingdom seem more “lifeless.” The figures produced in Florence seem to be alive and breathing; the faces are languid and their hair of female figures is left loose or gathered into seductive plaits that were often adorned by pearl necklaces. On the other hand, English waxes merely reproduced cadavers. Perhaps the most disturbing direction taken by the Italian school was the creation of what came to be known as “Venuses.” These were nothing more than excuses to create life-size, hyperrealistic depictions of beautiful dead or dying women.
(Photo of a wax anatomical study at the Palazzo Poggi Museum by Shiralee Saul)
The Dish 