Anatomy model, Jane Wildgoose Memorial Library

3D Model

This plaster cast of a dissected human arm revealing the musculature (known as an écorché: from the French verb écorcher, meaning to flay) came from an artist’s studio in Hampstead. It is typical of the kind of model traditionally used for the study of anatomy in art schools, and reminiscent of the écorché models produced under the direction of William Hunter to accompany his teaching as Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy during the latter part of the 18th century.

The écorché arm was included in the WML@KCL to accompany the workshop Dissecting the Anatomists with medical historian Ruth Richardson (author of Death, Dissection & the Destitute), Anna Gasperini (author of Nineteenth Century Popular Fiction, Medicine and Anatomy: The Penny Blood and the 1832 Anatomy Act) and the artist Lisa Temple-Cox, who specialises in drawing medical collections and whose work is included in the WML collection. http://www.janewildgoose.co.uk/