Author: Alberti, Samuel

Source: Museum History Journal, Number 1 / January 2009 , pp. 7-36(30)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

Abstract:

Effigies, facsimiles, and replicas were common features of nineteenth-century cultures of display. Medical museums in particular housed numerous models in media such as glass and plaster; the closest in appearance to human flesh for anatomical representation, however, was wax. This paper explores the role of ceroplastica in British anatomy museums through the wax bodies of Joseph Towne, modeler at Guy's Hospital Museum in London. Towne's processes and products were distinct from his European predecessors in ways that reveal not only the contingencies of museum practice, but also the particular place of wax in the Victorian exhibitionary complex.

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Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: 2009-01-01

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