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The Anatomical Venus

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Opulent cadaver: anatomy, art, and waxen intrigue.

If the peculiar intersection of art and science fascinates you, "The Anatomical Venus" may well captivate your imagination. It offers a detailed look into a unique historical practice that marries the macabre with the beautiful, providing educational value alongside a deep dive into cultural and ethical considerations of the time. Perfect for the intellectually curious, this book unveils a hidden chapter of medical history that continues to enchant and perplex.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.
Just Arrived

The Anatomical Venus

Regular price RM41.00 MYR
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: RM210.00 MYR  
Condition guide

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ISBN: 9780500252185
Publisher: THAMES HUDSON
Date of Publication: 2016-05-16
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Science, History, Art
Goodreads rating: 4.45
(rated by 280 readers)

Description

Beneath the original Venetian glass and rosewood case at La Specola in Florence lies Clemente Susini's Anatomical Venus (c. 1790), a perfect object whose luxuriously bizarre existence challenges belief. It - or, better, she - was conceived of as a means to teach human anatomy without need for constant dissection, which was messy, ethically fraught and subject to quick decay. This life-sized wax woman is adorned with glass eyes and human hair and can be dismembered into dozens of parts revealing, at the final remove, a beatific foetus curled in her womb. Sister models soon appeared throughout Europe, where they not only instructed the specialist students, but also delighted the general public. Deftly crafted dissectable female wax models and slashed beauties of the world's anatomy museums and fairgrounds of the 18th and 19th centuries take centre stage in this disquieting volume. Since their creation in late 18th-century Florence, these wax women have seduced, intrigued and amazed. Today, they also confound, troubling the edges of our neat categorical divides: life and death, science and art, body and soul, effigy and pedagogy, spectacle and education, kitsch and art. Incisive commentary and captivating imagery reveal the evolution of these enigmatic sculptures from wax effigy to fetish figure and the embodiment of the uncanny.
 

Opulent cadaver: anatomy, art, and waxen intrigue.

If the peculiar intersection of art and science fascinates you, "The Anatomical Venus" may well captivate your imagination. It offers a detailed look into a unique historical practice that marries the macabre with the beautiful, providing educational value alongside a deep dive into cultural and ethical considerations of the time. Perfect for the intellectually curious, this book unveils a hidden chapter of medical history that continues to enchant and perplex.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.