House of Wax: The History of Anatomical Models as Works of Art and Medicine

Dr. Jeremy Wasser

For at least the last 37,000 years, humans have sculpted and drawn the human form. What compelled our prehistoric ancestors to do this is unknown and subject to debate among prehistorians, but something compelled these ancient artists to represent human anatomy in stone, bone, and mammoth ivory. The ancient Mesopotamian civilizations and those of classical antiquity have left us with not just sculptures of human and semi-human form but also anatomically accurate models designed for medical diagnosis and therapeutic purposes. This trend continued and expanded throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.
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Join physiologist and medical historian, Dr. Jeremy Wasser, for a tour of the history of anatomical representations of the human body. Why were these images of bodies (and body parts) made and how were they used by their makers and contemporary healers. What do the images tell us about how these peoples viewed the human body in health and disease and how they understood the relationship of humans to the world around them and to the universe itself, the microcosm in the macrocosm.