Article ID: CBB001200290

The Re-Birth of Venus in Florence's Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History (2013)

unapi

For a number of years after the inauguration of Peter Leopold's Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History in Florence in 1775, the most powerful magnet at the heart of the collection became the newly exhibited Anatomical Venus, capable of disassembly and recomposition. This article examines the explicit scientific and artistic significance of the Venus within the context of the Royal Museum and, more broadly, how this idealized three-dimensional image of the anatomized female body served Peter Leopold's mission of popular Enlightenment. A novel instrument of science, an unexpected physics machine, the deconstructable Venus allowed the expert as well as the amateur and even the unschooled virtually to do human dissection themselves and thereby represented a potent challenge to the iconic Venuses of the past regime. My analysis centres on the overt connections and competition of the waxen Venus with classical and Renaissance icons of Medici dynastic reign, just across the Arno in the Uffizi.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001200290/

Similar Citations

Article Elena Varotto; Mauro Vaccarezza; Roberta Ballestriero; Domenico Tafuri; Francesco Galassi; (2019)
The teaching of anatomy throughout the centuries: from Herophilus to plastination and beyond (/isis/citation/CBB228242848/)

Article Patrizia Fughelli; (2017)
Bolognese Medicine during the Time of Dante (/isis/citation/CBB288466144/)

Chapter Kausmally, Tania; (2012)
William Hewson and the Craven Street Anatomy School (/isis/citation/CBB001251804/)

Article Martínez-Vidal, Àlvar; Pardo-Tomás, José; (2005)
Anatomical Theatres and the Teaching of Anatomy in Early Modern Spain (/isis/citation/CBB000773937/)

Chapter Maerker, Anna; (2013)
Anatomy and Public Enlightenment: The Florentine Museo “La Specola” (/isis/citation/CBB001202344/)

Book Chiarelli, A. Brunetto; Simonetta, Alberto Mario; Mori, Luca; (2008)
Storia dei musei naturalistici fiorentini (/isis/citation/CBB000932338/)

Chapter Moira Ambrosi; Giuseppe Pieraccini; Giampaolo Ermini; Monica Galeotti; Claudia Corti; (2019)
The Anatomical Wax Models of the La Specola Museum: Analysis of the Degradation Process (/isis/citation/CBB473765977/)

Book Maerker, Anna; (2011)
Model Experts: Wax Anatomies and Enlightenment in Florence and Vienna, 1775--1815 (/isis/citation/CBB001252156/)

Article Maerker, Anna; (2005)
Scenes from the Museum: The Hermaphrodite Monkey and Stage Management at La Specola (/isis/citation/CBB000630817/)

Chapter Massimo Galtarossa; (2020)
Knowledge from Bodies and Resistance to Anatomical Discourse (Padua, 16th–18th Centuries) (/isis/citation/CBB574584350/)

Article Lotti, S.; Altobelli, A.; Bambi, S.; Poggesi, M.; (2006)
Illustrations of the Anatomical Wax Model Collection in the “La Specola” Zoology Museum, Florence (/isis/citation/CBB000772487/)

Article Clayton, Martin; (2012)
Medicine: Leonardo's Anatomy Years (/isis/citation/CBB001320448/)

Article Hurren, Elizabeth T.; (2012)
“Abnormalities and Deformities”: The Dissection and Interment of the Insane Poor, 1832--1929 (/isis/citation/CBB001232194/)

Chapter Alberto Zanatta; (2021)
The Origin and Development of Medical Museum Heritage in Padua (/isis/citation/CBB187411892/)

Thesis Megan H. Bayles; (2016)
Bodies of Wonder: Human Body-Objects in US Museums (/isis/citation/CBB687060684/)

Authors & Contributors
Maerker, Anna
Tafuri, Domenico
Mascardi, Chiara
Ambrosi, Moira
Pieraccini, Giuseppe
Bayles, Megan H.
Concepts
Anatomy
Medicine
Dissection
Museums
Medical education and teaching
Human anatomy
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
16th century
Renaissance
17th century
Early modern
Places
Italy
Florence (Italy)
Great Britain
Padua (Italy)
England
Bologna (Italy)
Institutions
Mütter Museum
National Museum of Health and Medicine
University of Padua
Museo della Specola, Florence
Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment