Anatomy
Laura Wagner
Artist's Statement - 2007

This is one of a series of five egg tempera paintings inspired by the 18th-century wax anatomical models found in the Museo La Specola in Florence, Italy. The models were crafted by master artisans, Clemente Susini being the most famous, and designed to teach anatomy to medical students without the use of cadavers. I am fascinated by the scientific accuracy of the models and their surprising poignancy. The full-size figures are posed much like wounded warriors or the eerie casts found in Pompeii. Like the plaster forms of the victims of that famous volcanic eruption, the wax figures appear as though they were breathing only moments ago.

I wished to capture the haunting beauty of the figures as well as the intricate landscape of the human body. Some of the paintings approach abstract landscapes, where blood vessels are rivers and muscle tissue forms hills that vanish in the distance.