Anna Morandi Manzolini
Anna Morandi Manzolini (born January 21, 1714 in Bologna ; † July 9, 1774 there ) was an Italian anatomist and wax artist. She taught anatomy as an honorary professor at the University of Bologna and is known for her anatomically precise wax replicas of human organs and body parts.
Life
Little is known about Anna Morandi's childhood and youth and her education. She seems to have had a good education because she was able to read the Latin texts by Galen , Andreas Vesalius , Marcello Malpighi and Antonio Maria Valsalva , which she refers to in her work diaries. It is also not known where she received her artistic training.
In 1740 she married Giovanni Manzolini , who taught anatomy in Bologna. The marriage resulted in eight children, five of whom died at an early age, another son died at the age of 11, and only two sons reached adulthood. The couple initially worked together in the workshop of the sculptor, medalist and wax maker Ercole Lelli (1702–1766). In 1742 Lelli was commissioned by Pope Benedict XIV , who also came from Bologna, to create eight life-size wax models that were to recreate the anatomy and skeleton of men and women in different layers. In these models, the skeleton was made of real bones, while the soft tissues were made of wax. Anatomically imprecise, these models were at best suitable for training artists in anatomical drawing.
In 1746 the couple left the workshop and set up their own studio in their apartment. A long-term assignment came from Giovanni Antonio Galli (1708–1782), who taught anatomy and trained midwives in Bologna. A total of 170 anatomical wax models were to be made for him. The first twenty showed the female reproductive organs and the uterus at different stages of pregnancy. The models were used in the training of midwives. In 1755 Giovanni Mazzolini died of tuberculosis.
Anna Morandi's reputation as a brilliant anatomist had meanwhile reached far beyond Bologna. She received offers from foreign universities and academies, u. a. also from St. Petersburg by Catherine II. To keep her in Bologna, Pope Benedict provided her with an annual salary for life. Around the same time, a papal bull of 1299 that forbade the dissection of corpses as desecration was repealed. Desecration of corpses was still a criminal offense and was sanctioned by the Church with excommunication . However, dissection for scientific purposes was exempt from the ban. This also led to an upswing in anatomy in Bologna.
The Pope's patronage boosted her reputation as a scientist and artist throughout Europe and earned her the status of a landmark. Educational travelers and offspring of the nobility on their grand tour through Europe visited her studio. In 1769 she received a visit from Emperor Joseph II.
Despite her great success as a scientist and artist, she had to struggle with financial problems towards the end of her life, as she had to pay for the maintenance and education of her children by herself. She received support from Girolamo Ranuzzi, a senator from the city of Bologna, who bought her collection and later also her library for him cheaply and gave her an apartment and a studio in his palace.
Her Catalogo dei preparati anatomici , in which she describes in detail the human organs that she had dissected, records her anatomical discoveries, and occasionally corrects errors made by her famous predecessors, remained unpublished. Eight months after her death, Ranuzzi sold the collection and library to the Senate of Bologna for 16,000 lire.
The collection of obstetrical devices, their anatomical models and other bequests then went to the Instituto delle Science, which set up a museum in Palazzo Poggi for the estate. The museum was opened in 1777, the opening speech with a laudation in honor of Anna Morandi was given by Luigi Galvani , who less appreciated her achievements in anatomy than praised the beauty and artistic perfection of her wax models.
Works of art
Anna Morandi also created wax busts a. a. by Ercole Isolani (1686–1756) and Laura Pepoli Malvezzi, who stood in the “smell of holiness” during their lifetime, as well as their own self-portrait and the bust of her husband, both exhibited in Palazzo Poggi in Bologna. The two anatomists are shown with dissecting knife and specimen. Another bust of a man in colored wax is exhibited today in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the attribution fluctuates between Anna Morandi and Giovanni Manzolini.
Honors
By Anna Morandi Manzolini the impact crater is Manzolini on the surface of Venus named.
In 1760 she became a member of the Società letteraria von Foligno and in 1761 the Accademia del disegno of Florence.
literature
- Walther Schönfeld : Women in Western Medicine. From classical antiquity to the end of the 19th century , Ferdinand Enke Verlag Stuttgart 1947, Anna Morandi-Manzolini p. 116.
- Rebecca Messbarger: The Lady Anatomist: The Life and Work of Anna Morandi Manzolini . Univ. of Chicago Press 2010. ISBN 0-226-52081-1
- German edition: Signora Anna, anatomist of the Enlightenment. A cultural story from Bologna . Translated from America by Klaus Binder and Bernd Leineweber. Berlin: Eichborn 2015. ( The Other Library , Volume 367) ISBN 978-3-84770368-6 .
- Jean Pierre Jenny: The art of the right cut. Anna Morandi, an 18th century anatomist. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. No. 14-18 January 2014. p. 26.
- Stefano Arieti: Morandi, Anna. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 76: Montauti – Morlaiter. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Susanna Falabella: Manzolini, Giovanni. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 69: Mangiabotti – Marconi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2007.
- ^ Scott D. Haddow: Giovanni Manzolini and Anna Morandi, Palazzo Poggi
- ↑ David Baker: The Wax Woman of Bologna , online, accessed May 22, 2019
- ↑ Lucia Dacome: Women, Wax and Anatomy. In: Spaces, Objects and Identities in Early Modern Italian Medicine. Ed by Sandra Cavallo, David Gentilcore. 2008. p. 54.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Morandi Manzolini, Anna |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Manzolini |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian anatomist and wax artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 1, 1714 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bologna |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 9, 1774 |
| Place of death | Bologna |