Gaetano Giulio Zumbo
(Siracusa 1656 - Paris 1701)

Anatomia di testa maschile nella quale sono preparati i muscoli della faccia, la carotide, il Dutto Stenoniano ecc. Porzione sinistra del Cervello sezionata
Second half of the 17th century
wax anatomy modelled on a skull
Display case no. 962 (cm 60 x 49 x 43,5)

Firenze, Sistema Museale di Ateneo - Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze, Sede “La Specola”

This anatomy of a man’s head, from the “La Specola” museum, ranks as nothing less than a masterpiece of craftsmanship by the Syracuse-born Abate Gaetano Giulio Zumbo. Zumbo was invited to the court of Cosimo III de’ Medici and spent a few years in Florence (1691-1694). Listed in an inventory drawn up after the death of the Grand Prince of Tuscany, Ferdinando de’ Medici, this piece clearly shows Zumbo’s growing interest in human anatomy – he is in fact credited with being the first to employ wax in the creation of anatomical models. The troubled historical moment in which the “La Specola” head was made is also worth considering – the late-Seventeenth Century of the last Medici was a time in which corpses and their decomposition were a subject of interest both for science and religion, which in those years was dominated by Jesuit-inspired literature advocating visual contemplation of themes related to “vanitas vanitatum”.

Special contents

Gaetano Giulio Zumbo
by Claudia Corti

Anatomy of a male head
Second half of the 17th century
Florence, Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze, Museo “La Specola”, anatomical waxes collection
Display case no. 962

The “La Specola” anatomical head is the first of three executed by Zumbo. Along with the well-known composizioni zumbiane anatomical pieces he created, it was part of the collection of Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany and eldest son of Cosimo III, who held the works of this Sicilian artist in high esteem.

The head was modelled using polychrome wax applied over a real skull, that of a young man. Unlike the human anatomical wax models produced in the “La Specola” ceroplastic workshop a century later, Zumbo’s piece reproduces the natural colours of “death”: the greenish colour of the skin, the eyelids closed in an eternal sleep, the two drops of dried blood emerging from the nose and at the corner of the half-open mouth with the teeth just visible inside.  The skin on the left side of the head is peeled away to best display the facial musculature, the tendons, carotid and salivary glands. The upper section of the cranium has been removed and the left hemisphere of the brain “extracted” and placed to one side.

With the exception of the precious little “Anatomia” in wax by Lodovico Cigoli (1559-1613), the idea to use this material for the preparation of anatomical models for scientific purposes is generally regarded as being the result of the encounter between Gaetano Zumbo and the French surgeon Guillaume Desnoues. Zumbo’s extraordinary ability in the wax medium attracted the attention of the well-known surgeon, who thought of exploiting the mouldable quality of the material to create pieces which were long-lasting and would not undergo the alterations to which natural anatomical preparations were prone. It would appear, however, that the “La Specola” man’s head – a masterpiece of meticulous precision – in fact predates the encounter between Zumbo and Desnoues.


Bibliography of consulted works: AAVV, 1988, 112 pp.  Azzaroli M.L., 1975, 31 pp.; Contardi S., 2002, 328 pp.; Corti and Barbagli, 2017, 38-40; Giansiracusa P. (ed.), 1991, 104 pp.; Lanza et al., 1997, pp. 257; Poggesi, 2009, p. 78-105.

AAVV (1988). AA.VV. Gaetano Giulio Zumbo, edited by Paolo Giansiracusa, conference proceedings 9-11 December 1988, Syracuse, Fabbri ed., Milan.

Azzaroli M.L. (1975). La Specola. Il museo zoologico dell'Università di Firenze, Florence, ed. Olschki,1975, excerpt from "Atti del I congresso internazionale sulla ceroplastica nella scienza e nell'arte, Florence 3-7 June 1975.

Contardi S. (2002). La casa di Salomone a Firenze: L’Imperiale e Reale Museo di Fisico e Storia Naturale (1755–1801). (Biblioteca di Nuncius, 43.) xix + 322 pp., Leo S. Olschki ed., Florence.

Corti C. & Barbagli F. (2017). Le cere anatomiche del Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze. Nuova Museologia, Rivista semestrale di Museologia, ISSN (print) 1828-1591, ISSN (on line) 1828-158337: 38-40.

Giansiracusa P. (edited by) (1991). Vanitas vanitatum: studi sulla ceroplastica by Gaetano Giulio Zumbo, Arnaldo Lombardi, Syracuse.

Lanza B., Azzaroli M.L., Poggesi M., Martelli A. (1979). Le cere anatomiche della Specola. Arnaud Editore, Florence, 257 pp.

Poggesi M. (2011). La Specola: dall’Imperial Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale alla Sezione di Zoologia del Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze. Museologia Scientifica Memorie, p. 90-98.