The Anatomical Venus. Joanna Ebenstein

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      ch a p t e r tWo f rom• s ac r e d to • s c i e n t i f i c u s e• o f• wa x ( 6 7 ) AV_00966_pre-pdf layout_001_215.indd 67 12/01/2016 12:1

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      (70) hile Susini’s expert artistry is responsible for the convincing appearance of La Specola’s Medici Venus, she owes much of her unnerving presence to the wax with which she is made. Wax can look uncannily like flesh; it has a similarly moist appearance, depth of colour (due to the even suspension of added pigments), and transparent opacity. It has also been intimately related to death rituals, where it represents the stillness of a corpse that appears only to need its spirit to be immediately reanimated. Wax is, by nature, contradictory: solid and molten, stable and ephemeral, ‘flesh’ and yet simulacrum, seemingly alive, yet merely material. Because of these qualities, wax has been the medium of choice for the making of human surrogates for anatomical, popular, religious, and magical preVious Effigy of Teresa Urrea (1873–1906), or Santa Teresita, Mexican folk healer and revolutionary. Her gift for miraculous healings was acquired after emerging from weeks spent in a trance. She lies in a golden casket at Carmen Alto, Oaxaca, Mexico, founded in 1696. fig. 28 fig. 29 fig. 30 fig. 28 Small wooden coffin containing a beeswax poppet—with a slot in its back, into which written spells, nail parings,or hair, can be inserted—that once belonged to a clairvoyant known as Madam de la Cour. fig. 29 This Agnus Dei—a wax amulet, imprinted with the lamb of God and blessed by the pope—was found in Oxfordshire, England, and dates from 1578, when it was a criminal offence to be Catholic. purposes. Wax figurines in the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 1550–50 bCe) are described as engraved with the names of Ramesses III’s enemies and bound with string. Voudou dolls and poppets, proxy bodies meant to inflict harm or death to enemies, have been used since at least the medieval period. Wax was also an essential part of the mummification process. The portraits that decorate the mummy casings at Fayum, Egypt, were painted in a combination of wax and pigment known as encaustic. They were displayed in the home during the life of the subject, and, upon death, attached to the mummy case in which their owner would spend eternity. In Ancient Rome, wax was used to create death masks and funerary effigies of notable personages, presaging the wax museums. The symbolic and ritual significance of wax has been particularly rich in Christian, especially Catholic, tradition. Wax is seen as fragile, transitory, and malleable: like man, moulded by God and lit by his spirit. Bees are ascribed exemplary virtues in Christian iconography, and liturgical candles are tradi tionally made of beeswax. In Italy, the plague of 1575–77, which decimated the population, also caused the rapid expansion of the wax industry and greatly AV_00966_pre-pdf layout_001_215.indd 70 12/01/2016 12:14 chapter two[2]

      (71) raised the price of wax, as the demand for candles for use at funerals was vastly increased. For many commoners beeswax was an expensive luxury only expe rienced at a funeral service; ordinary candles were made of tallow. The Roman Catholic tradition of Agnus Dei—wax amulets imprinted with an image of a lamb bearing a cross or flag, symbolizing Jesus Christ, and blessed by the pope— depends upon such associations, as do the anatomically themed wax votives known as ex-votos, or boti, which are left at a candlelit church or shrine to com memorate or request divine intervention. In the thirteenth century, St Francis of Assisi used a wax impression as a metaphor for the inner transformation of his religious experience, stating in the Canticle of Love: ‘My heart softens like melted wax, and the form of Christ is traced upon it.’ fig. 30 Modern-day wax anatomical votive, made in Fatima, Portugal. Votives are used to request or offer thanks for healing. The shape reflects the ailing body part. fig. 31 fig. 32 The physical body that is itself evoked by wax holds a special and seemingly paradoxical position in Christian belief. As the seat of the passions and of sin, the body must be tamed or mortified, yet in one of the central mysteries of the faith Christ was ‘the Word made flesh’: simultaneously man and God. Jesus lived and suffered in a human body that was given in the ultimate sacrifice, one that rendered all further animal sacrifice unnecessary. The sinful and fleeting pleasures of the body are believed to be mere vanities compared to the ever lasting life that awaits the virtuous in heaven; yet the corporeal bodies of the faithful are essential to their salvation, and are believed to be resurrected and reunited with their souls in heaven when the trumpets sound on Judgement Day. Even in everyday religious observance, the body is central to the rite of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, a commemoration of the Last Supper in which the believer eats a wafer and drinks wine that has been converted by the priest into the body and blood of Christ. Predicated on such equivocal meanings of the body, the Catholic ‘cult of the saints’ concerns the desire to be close to the powerful physical remains of saints. fig. 31 Francesco Stelluti’s engraving from 1625 combines an early illustration of bees observed through a microscope with a Latin poem complimenting Pope Urban VIII, whose family’s emblem was bees, and to whom the image was presented. fig. 32 Beekeepers and the Birdnester (c. 1568) as depicted in pen and ink by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. AV_00966_pre-pdf layout_001_215.indd 71 12/01/2016 12:14 from sacred to scientific use of wax[2]

      Egyptian death rituals are intimately related to wax: ‘mummy’ traces the Ancient Egyptian word ‘moum’, meaning ‘wax’ or ‘tallow’, which was an important part of the mummification process. Painted in encaustic, a combination of wax and pigment, the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt are believed to date from between the late first century bCe and mid third century Ce. About nine hundred portraits have been discovered at Fayum, near Cairo. Beautifully preserved, they are the oldest known body of art from classical antiquity. Each portrait would have been commissioned during the subject’s lifetime and displayed in the home until their death, whereupon they would be attached to the mummy case. leF t The mummy of an adolescent boy from Fayum, near Cairo, Egypt (c. 100 to 120 Ce). The body was wrapped whilst in an advanced state of decomposition—the ribs and spinal column are in a state of confusion—with fine linen layers arranged in a diamond pattern with gilded studs. An encaustic (pigmented wax) mummy portrait has been inserted over the face. aboVe This encaustic portrait on limewood from Fayum, Egypt, depicts a wealthy woman. Her jewelled necklace and diadem are reproduced in gold leaf. opposite Encaustic portraits from mummy cases found at Fayum, near Cairo, Egypt. AV_00966_pre-pdf layout_001_215.indd 72 12/01/2016 12:14 [2]

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      to •the d epart ed spiri t• and in •the memory o f • claud ia v ic toria , w ho • li v ed t En •y ears , one • mon th , and • ele v en day s . AV_00966_pre-pdf layout_001_215.indd 75 12/01/2016 12:14 [2]