FEMALE ANATOMY IN WAX: SCIENCE, ART AND SPECTACLE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Abstract

Among the models developed in the medical ceroplastics are include those showing the female body as a sculptural object that combines sensuality and motherhood; perfect example to express the creation of life. Known as “Anatomical Venus” or “Gravid Venus”, unite the qualities of beauty and feminity as well as conferring knowledge of female physiology. The Anatomy Museum “Javier Puerta” of the Faculty of Medicine at the University Complutense of Madrid, has in its collection of wax two of these sculptures, one sitting and one standing. This article shows the results of their research elucidating the authorship of each piece, placing them in the historical context in which they were made, and compared them with existing works in other European collections.