Malleable Anatomies
Models, Makers, and Material Culture in Eighteenth-Century Italy
Lucia Dacome
Reviews and Awards
Shortlisted for the 2019 Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize, awarded by the History of Science Society
Shortlisted for the 2019 Pfizer Award
"...the volume is rich and important. Focusing more on the lives of wax modellers than on that of the anatomical waxes (which could be a choice), it broadens the horizon on the relationships between art, science, gender and patronage in the eighteenth century." -- Francesco Paolo de Ceglia, European History Quarterly
"This is an important book, dealing with eighteenth-century Italian anatomical models and displays, especially those made in wax, in Bologna, with a coda on Southern Italy, on Naples and Palermo ... This is a timely and useful book, offering a nuanced assessment of anatomy and surgery, medicine and science, while also providing an enlightening and at times unexpected perspective on Italian history in the Settecento." -- Maria Conforti, Metascience
"demonstrates the continuing power of richly contextualized local case studies. Dacome's analysis brings together a wide range of approaches: by tracing the models and their materiality she finds new ways of understanding contemporary epistemological debates ... Dacome's book presents a rich and complex image of the world of anatomical models and their makers that will be of interest to a wide range of historians." -- Anna Maerker, Isis
"Dacome has produced a timely and beautiful work that substantively adds to our understanding of anatomical collections and Grand Tour literature, gender, and material culture in eighteenth-century Italy." -- Domenico Bertoloni Meli, American Historical Review
"This book is one of the most carefully crafted and wide-ranging studies on early modern anatomical collections to date" --Social History of Medicine
"[A] superb work....Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"Malleable Anatomies provides an intricate history of the 'diversified' world of mid-18th century Italian anatomy. In many ways the book is a thing of great beauty. It is rich in details that can only be the product of years of meticulous archival research, and it is wonderfully illustrated. The analysis in the individual chapters is also woven together with great skill ... this book is full of interesting insights and perspectives"--Kathryn Woods,Reviews in History