Description
Book SynopsisBeneath 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. This title reveals the evolution of the enigmatic sculptures from wax effigy to fetish figure and the embodiment of the uncanny.
Trade Review'Wonderful and epically illustrated' - Telegraph
'Fabulous … A mesmerising marriage of art and science' - Tatler
'Joanna Ebenstein's sumptuous book is fascinated by this era in which the study of nature was also the study of philosophy; in which a body created for medical purposes could also be read as a work of art' - Guardian
'An enchanting and repulsive book' - Huffington Post
'What Ebenstein argues is beguiling to our contemporary brains is that the figures weren't strictly medical, but beautiful as well' - vice.com
Table of ContentsForeword • Introduction • 1. Wax • 2. Theology/History/Italy • 3. Theatre/Fairground/ Spectacle • 4. Eroticism/Romanticism/Gender • 5. Aesthetics and Death • 6. The Uncanny • 7. Surrealism • Afterword
