![]() ![]() It can be obtained from many sources, including animal (beeswax, lanolin, spermaceti), vegetable ( Candelilla, Carnauba) and mineral ( montan, ozocerite and petroleum) (Chilvers, 2009 Ballestriero, 2000/01). Wax is a malleable substance that has been used for a variety of purposes since ancient times by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans and continues to be an important material today. Introduction: a brief history of ceroplastics Italian and English waxes are stylistically different but the remarkable results obtained by Susini and Towne, and the fact that some contemporary artists are again representing anatomical wax bodies in their works, makes the border that formerly separated art and craft indistinguishable. Independent of the material used, whether wood, wax or clay, anatomical models were always considered merely craft works confined to hospitals or faculties of medicine and have survived to this day only because of their scientific interest. Throughout the centuries many anatomical artists preferred this material due to the remarkable mimetic likeness obtained, far surpassing any other material. In England, the art of anatomical ceroplastics was brought to London from Florence by the sculptor Joseph Towne. ![]() Interest in anatomical wax models spread throughout Europe during the 18th century, first in Bologna with Ercole Lelli, Giovanni Manzolini and Anna Morandi, and then in Florence with Felice Fontana and Clemente Susini. ![]() ![]() The achievement of having originated the creation of anatomical models in coloured wax must be ascribed to a joint effort undertaken by the Sicilian wax modeller Gaetano Giulio Zumbo and the French surgeon Guillaume Desnoues in the late 17th century. With the advent of Neoclassicism this art, now deemed repulsive, continued to survive in a scientific environment, where it flourished in the study of normal and pathological anatomy, obstetrics, zoology and botany. The art of wax modelling has an ancient origin but rose to prominence in 14th century Italy with the cult of votive artefacts. ![]()
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