I saw the German wax anatomical Venuses at the now defunct Morbid Anatomy Museum in 2016. I also attended lectures of this topic, and I am so fascinated by this beautiful, amazing piece of art with its didactic system. Plus I have the signed book by Joanna Ebenstein. So naturally, when Morbid Anatomy was hosting Make your own mini Wax Anatomical Venus Class, I had to sign up! The most famous sculptor of the wax anatomical models is Clemente Susini. His workshop is in Florence, Italy and he made thousands of models. The workshop is part of the Natural History Museum and later called La Specola, which I want to visit one day! Along with the wax models, are the Venus models. These are beautiful, seductive wax females trying to lure the viewer to take a look inside her body to learn about human anatomy. Would you want to look at a exquisite, alluring model or a scary, grotesque cadaver in the years of 1780s-1790s? That is also why these models were made; instead of dissecting bodies, families would come to the medical museum to gain an understanding of the structure of human anatomy, not just physicians and surgeons. Susini would later train other sculptors wax models because he was in such high demand. He made them artistic, medically accurate, and realistic: glass eyes, real hair, life size human form. Sculptors also made them dissectible with layers. My favorite ones are where you can see a fetus. The Venerina (Little Venus) at the Museo di Palazzo Poggi in Bologna is a wax model that has her organs dismantled for viewers to see in her permanent glass display case. She also has 3 sets of pearls to adorn her neck. Another place in Italy I would love to travel to. How did they get the wax/skin to shine/reflect light so much back in the day? The Museums of the University at Pavia, Italy has a collections of so many things: bones, a physics section, a medical section and of course wax models. The Venus here has long braided hair and her facial expression reminds me of the Ecstasy of St. Theresa statue in Rome. The Josephinum Medical Museum in Vienna, Austria has seven rooms dedicated to wax models. They are inclosed in rosewood and Venetian glass. There are also wax anatomical male models named Adonis. Below, this Venus has a golden hair band or tiara. I took a short walk to the church in my neighborhood that was hosting the class. Eleanor Crook was the teacher and she is a specialist that works with historical wax anatomical models. She is also a famous sculptor that has a number of her work in a lot of collections around the world. She casted an 8 inch wax statuette with a hollow torso for all of us to work with. We will use the wax to make the organs. She also gave a short presentation about herself and the history of anatomical wax Venuses. Eleanor provided all the art supplies which included wax, paints, tools, hair, and beads. I started to mix some acrylic paint together, and I painted the body and the lips first. Then we used tools to shape the wax into organs: the ribs, heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, uterus, and fallopian tubes. I also added a C shaped fetus in her womb. Next up we painted the eyebrows, nostrils, and eyes. I also attached a beaded necklace and place wax on top of her head for the hair. For the wax organs we used oil paints. Then I added her messy hair using a hair rooting holder and needle. The class was 4 hours long, not enough time in my opinion, and I was rushing to finish everything, Eleanor is from London and I knew that her art supplies were all from overseas, which is hard to find and order. I felt pressed for time. I had to finish the small details at home. At home, I put in purple hair extensions, fake eyelashes, earrings and painted the pillow and blanket. The pillow and blanket colors were inspired from the Venus from the Josephinum Museum. I also added more pinkish-red paint to her cheeks and skin. I wanted her to look a little more modern. Another student had snakes coming out of her torso instead of organs! That reminded me of the movie Alien. Lastly, I made a black satin cushion to hold my Venus. Underneath the wax cast of the statuette is a hard surface and it scratches the tables around the house. So the satin cushion slides smoothly on the tables making it easy to show people my mini Venus. I was thinking of also drawing tattoos around her body but we shall see! Until next time.
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