Descrizione

Alessandro Riva presents the collection of anatomical waxworks by Clemente Susini exposed in Cagliari, a collection that testifies an important season in the history of Italian Science. The wax collection was acquired by the young Sardinian anatomist Francesco Antonio Boi from 1801 until 1805. Following Carlo Felice’s will, Boi went to Florence, in the Santa MariaNovaHospital where anatomical studies flourished, leaded by Paolo Mascagni and Felice Fontana. Boi stayed in Florence for 4 years, he commissioned the waxworks to Susini and helped him in the anatomical dissections. The volume is a complete catalogue on Susini’s waxes, with essays that examine waxworks as art works, comparing them to the collection of Museum «La Specola» in Florence. A wonderful selection of pictures, essays about the history of Susini’s collection, the history of ceroplastics, the use of wax modelling in science and medicine, but also their utilization as votive offering and the madame Tussaud Museum in London.