“Turpentine Hides Everything”: Autonomy and Organization in Anatomical Model Production for the State in Late Eighteenth-Century Florence

Wandruszka A. , Leopold II (Vienna and Munich, 1963); Anderson M. S. , “The Italian reformers”, in Scott H. M. (ed.), Enlightened absolutism: Reform and reformers in later eighteenth-century Europe (Ann Arbor, 1990), 55–74. On the transformation of Tuscan academies see especially the contributions by Pasta R. Becagli V. Barsanti G. Barsanti G. (eds), La politica della scienza: Toscana e stati italiani nel tardo settecento (Florence, 1996).

Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours (1815), quoted from Fox-Genovese E. , The origins of physiocracy: Economic revolution and social order in eighteenth-century France (Ithaca, 1976), 10.

Fox-Genovese , Physiocracy (ref. 2); and Kaplan S. , “Physiocracy, the state, and society: The limits of disengagement”, in Katzenstein P. Lowi T. Tarrow S. (eds), Comparative theory and political experience (Ithaca and London, 1990), 23–62.

For similar measures elsewhere see the exemplary Brewer J. , The sinews of power: War, money and the English state, 1688–1783 (New York and London, 1989); and Foucault M. , Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (New York, 1995 [1975]).

For an excellent institutional history of the Museum's early years see Contardi S. , La casa di Salomone a Firenze: L'Imperiale e Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale (1775–1801) (Florence, 2002). For other attempts to institutionalize expertise in state service see especially the reform of the agricultural Accademia dei Georgofili and the foundation of the Chamber of Commerce. Pasta R. , “L'Accademia dei Georgofili e la riforma dell'agricoltura”, Rivista storica Italiana, cv (1993), 484–501; and Baggiani D. , “Progresso tecnico e azione politica nella Toscana leopoldina: La Camera di Commercio di Firenze (1768–1782)”, in Barsanti (eds), Politica (ref. 1), 67–99.

N. N., Saggio del Real Gabinetto di Fisica, e di storia naturale di Firenze (Rome, 1775), 4. The Saggio, a description of the new museum, was published anonymously, but documentary evidence points to Fontana as its author. See Contardi , Casa (ref. 5), 83–84.

“Here the philosopher observes and contemplates; the curious person derives unexpected knowledge from simple observations, and the artisan recognizes the variety of things that can be useful for his art which he had not previously known; and finally all in general acquire here new ideas, they learn to know nature, and even more to admire the Creator in the vast range of products” (“Ivi il Filosofo specola, e contempla; il Curioso ritrova inaspettate cognizioni dalla semplice osservazione, e l'Artefice vi ravvisa le specie, le varietà dei corpi che possono esser'utili all'arte sua, da lui non conosciuti per l'avanti; e finalmente tutti in generale vi acquistano delle nuove idee, imparano a conoscere la natura, ed a viepiù ammirare il Creatore nella varietà immensa delle produzioni”), Follini V. Rastrelli M. , Firenze antica e moderna illustrata (8 vols, Florence, 1798–1802), viii, 181–2 (my italics).

The only book-length biography of Fontana is Knoefel P. , Felice Fontana: Life and works (Trento, 1984). A more recent and more accurate account is Mazzolini R. , “Fontana, Gasparo Ferdinando Felice”, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, xlii (Rome, 1997), 663–9. For accounts of various aspects of Fontana's work at La Specola, see also the contributions in the recent special issue of Nuncius, xxi (2006).

For the life of Fabbroni and his work as a Tuscan functionary and natural philosopher see Pasta R. , Scienza politica e rivoluzione: L'opera di Giovanni Fabbroni (1752–1822) intellettuale e funzionario al servizio dei Lorena (Florence, 1989).

“[L]'interesse del R. Museo esigge che sieno Levati tali difetti, e che i Lavori sieno perfetti”, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (hereafter IMSS), filza Negozi 1789 A, fol. 184, 2 October 1785.

Mazzolini R. , “Plastic anatomies and artificial dissections”, in de Chadarevian S. Hopwood N. (eds), Models: The third dimension of science (Stanford, 2004), 43–70.

Despite Fontana's acknowledgement of the importance of the collections' aesthetic appeal for its utility as a teaching device, he did not specify further what constituted such aesthetic appeal, and how it could be achieved. He did not comment on, or engage with, late eighteenth-century discourses on education which discussed the potential conflict between the aesthetic appeal and the didactic utility of representations (see e.g. the contributions in Shea W. (ed.), Science and the visual image in the Enlightenment (Canton, MA, 2000)).

“Ogni cosa resta ben serrata negli scaffali da maestosi, e grandi cristalli, e a un colpo d'ochio tutto sivede, tutto si conosce”, N. N., Saggio del Real Gabinetto di Fisica, e di storia naturale di Firenze (Rome, 1775), 29–30 (my italics).

See e.g. Fontana's statement on the provision of models for the anatomist Antonio Scarpa in Pavia, where he asserted that “they require all the perfection that they can attain, and which is absolutely necessary if they are to be used for public education” (“si voglia dar Loro tutta quella perfezione, di cui sono suscettibili, e che è affatto necessaria se si voglion far servire p l'Istruzione pubblica”); IMSS, filza Negozi 1791, fol. 117–21: “Memoria del Professore Cav.re Fontana sopra le cere anatomiche per l'Università di Pavia”, fol. 118r.

N. N., Saggio (ref. 13), 33.

Ibid., 32: “l'Anatomia in tal guisa diventerà una delle parti più belle della Fisica moderna.”.

For Fontana's distinction between descriptive anatomy and explanatory physics see also his correspondence with Caldani ( Mazzolini R. Ongaro G. (eds), Epistolario di Felice Fontana, i: Carteggio con Leopoldo Marc'Antonio Caldani (Trento, 1980), 127, letter of 30 October 1758.

Hahn R. , The anatomy of a scientific institution: The Paris Academy of Sciences, 1666–1803 (Berkeley, 1971); and Licoppe C. , La formation de la pratique scientifique: Le discours de l'expérience en France et en Angleterre, 1630–1820 (Paris, 1996).

Fontana F. , Ricerche fisiche sopra il veleno della vipera [Physical investigations on the venom of the viper] (Lucca, 1767). For a comprehensive list of Fontana's publications and unpublished manuscripts, see Knoefel P. , Felice Fontana, 1730–1805: An annotated bibliography (Trento, 1980).

Fontana did not specify in this account (N. N., Saggio (ref. 13), 33) what would constitute suitable angles. For a discussion of the natural philosopher's, or anatomist's, role for the choice of suitable modes of presentation see below.

Fontana did not specify how the representation of the normal human body was achieved on the basis of individual specimens, but claimed for himself the ability to do so.

For a general history of wax modelling see Büll R. , Das große Buch vom Wachs: Geschichte, Kultur, Technik (Munich, 1977).

For the Doccia porcelain manufacture see Lankheit K. , Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufaktur: Ein Dokument italienischer Barockplastik (Munich, 1982). Italian sculptors also took advantage of business opportunities that came with the influx of foreign travellers: The British traveller Adam Walker for instance reported of Italy that “[t]he sculptors are excellent, and successful in their imitations of the antique: No doubt but some are employed in MAKING Antiquities for English and other Nobility!” (Adam Walker, Ideas suggested on the spot, in a late excursion through Flanders, Germany, France, and Italy (London, 1790), 323; highlights in the original).

See Dacome L. , “‘Un certo e quasi incredibile piacere’: Cera e anatomia nel Settecento”, Intersezioni, xxvi (2005), 415–36; Messbarger R. , “Waxing poetic: Anna Morandi Manzolini's anatomical sculptures”, Configurations, ix (2001), 2001–97; and Armaroli M. (ed.), Le cere anatomiche bolognesi del Settecento (Bologna, 1981), for the history of the anatomical model workshop in Bologna.

For an architectural reconstruction of La Specola in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from historical floor plans and administrative documents see the contributions in Forti A. , (ed.), L'Imperiale e Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze: Indicazioni per un metodo di lettura e per una soluzione museografica (Florence, 1995), especially Vagnarelli R. , “Evoluzione e modifiche della fabbrica della Specola attraverso le piante storiche”, 29–42, and M. L. Zullino, ”L'organizzazione museologica della Specola nelle varie epoche”, 43–45.

Schnalke T. , “Vom Modell zur Moulage: Der neue Blick auf den menschlichen Körper am Beispiel des medizinischen Wachsbildes”, in Dürbeck Gabriele (eds), Wahrnehmung der Natur, Natur der Wahrnehmung: Studien zur Geschichte visueller Kultur um 1800 (Dresden, 2001), 55–70. In addition, the museum occasionally produced studies of microscopic details, and later added animal models for comparative purposes.

Desgenettes N. R. , “Réflexions générales sur l'utilité de l'anatomie artificielle; et en particulier sur la collection de Florence, et la necessité d'en former de semblables en France”, Journal de médecine, chirurgie et pharmacie, xciv (1793), 162–76, 233–52; and Wichelhausen E. , Ideen über die beste Anwendung der Wachsbildnerei, nebst Nachrichten von den anatomischen Wachspräparaten in Florenz und deren Verfertigung, für Künstler, Kunstliebhaber und Anthropologen (Frankfurt am Main, 1798).

This is corroborated by Fabbroni's account of the origin of Desgenettes's report, and by Wichelhausen. IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 418; Wichelhausen , Wachsbildnerei (ref. 27), pp. xv, 96, 121.

Schnalke , “Modell” (ref. 26); and Kleindienst H. , “Ásthetisierte Anatomie aus Wachs: Ursprung — Genese — Integration”, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Marburg, 1989, 59.

E.g. Wichelhausen , Wachsbildnerei (ref. 27), 36, 41, 42. See also IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 328, letter from dissector Bonicoli to Fabbroni, 5 November 1791.

“However one never models from copper etchings alone, but these only serve as a guide for the dissector” (“Doch modellirt man nie nach Kupferstichen allein, sondern diese dienen nur dem Zergliederer zur Leitung”), Wichelhausen , Wachsbildnerei (ref. 27), 117.

“Often a great many cadavers are necessary to achieve the greatest completeness of the parts that one wants to imitate, and to make them clear to the modeller” (“Oft sind sehr viele Kadaver erforderlich, um die gröβte Vollständigkeit der Theile, die man nachbilden will, zu erhalten und dem Modellirer deutlich zu machen”), ibid., 117–18. The number of body parts received seems to have been between 100 and 200 for most years; Fabbroni's records indicate 151 pieces for 1795 and 139 for 1796 (IMSS, fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 358–69). For the year 1797 a register indicates a total of 112 body parts. IMSS, Negozi 1800, fol. 98–101 (doc. 89): “Tabella Annuale Dei Pezzi di Cadavere, che sono venuti dal Regio Spedale di S[anta] M[ari]a Nova [sic] al Real Museo, ad Uso p[er] i Lavori Anatomici in Legno, di ordine del Ill[ustrissi]mo Sig[no]re Direttore Felice Fontana, dal Primo Gennaio a tutto Xbre 1797”.

An overview of the production process is given in Kleindienst, Ásthetisierte Anatomie (ref. 29). For a detailed description of the models' technical features from a restorer's perspective, see Furrer R. , “Die Restaurierung anatomischer und geburtshilflicher Wachsmodelle in Wiener Josephinum”, Restauratorenblätter, ii/1 (2000), 105–16. For a contemporary description of model production in Florence see Wichelhausen , Wachsbildnerei (ref. 27), 97–122.

“Apre l'ingresso alla Storia Naturale una vastissima collezione di Anatomìa dell'uomo eseguita in cera dappresso alla natura, ed alle descrizioni dei migliori Autori”, Follini Rastrelli , Firenze antica (ref. 7), viii, 178 (my italics).

IMSS, filza Negozi 1791, fol. 7, “Istruzioni per lo Spazino Giacinto Guidetti” (31 January 1791).

“[Guidetti's] tasks include also the transport of cadavers from Santa Maria Nuova to the Royal Museum, to be used for the work in wax, and in times of rain or snow etc. he cannot take a break anywhere, since he carries with him the basket with dead bodies, which task makes him detestable to everyone, and he is treated badly in the coffee houses which he used to frequent” (“[I]l suo mestiere richiede ancora il trasportare i Cadaveri da S.M. Nova al il Museo R. , p uso dei lavori in Cera, ed in tempo di pioggia di neve ec. non si può fermare, in verun luogo, avendo, appreso di se la sporta dei Morti, Il quale mestiere lo rende odioso a tutti, ed e trattato male nelle cafè ove à abitata”), IMSS, filza Negozi 1792, fol. 253 (doc. 85), letter from Guidetti to the museum's vice-director, 19 October 1792.

See e.g. IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 331–2, “Registro a parte di quei giorni che il Sig.re Direttore si porta al Real Museo, principiando dal dì 8 Marzo 1793 tenuto esatto dai due Guardaportoni”.

In a remark in the margins of a list of dead bodies received from Santa Maria Nuova, Susini described how on 22 January 1794 “the man from the cemetery said to Cintio [Giacinto Guidetti] ‘fucking vagabond, you return the dead bodies without operating on them, those that are there have to serve for Nannoni’” (“[L]'Omo [sic] del Campo Santo, disse a Cintio Baronfottuto, tu riporti i morti senza adoperare, questo, che ci è, deve servire p[er] il Nannoni”), Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 350–5: “1794, Ricordo dei Cadaveri portati da Diacinto Guidetti p[er] Istruzione del Sig[no]re Direttore Felice Fontana dagli Spedali di S[anta] Maria Nova, e Innocenti”, fol. 350v.

See e.g. Wichelhausen , Wachsbildnerei (ref. 27), 35, who remarked that the obstetrical models were not as correct (“richtig”) as the others, “but then they could not be done after nature, but after illustrations” (“Aber sie haben auch nicht nach der Natur gemacht werden können, sondern nach Abbildungen”). Representations both two- and three-dimensional of embryo development continued to be problematic throughout the nineteenth century: See e.g. Hopwood Nick , “Giving body to embryos: Modeling, mechanism, and the microtome in late 19th-century anatomy”, Isis, xc (1999), 462–96.

IMSS, filza Negozi 1791, fol. 114–21 (doc. 35); filza Negozi 1790, fol. 228–9 (doc. 54).

“[N]on v'è cosa in questa Statua che non regga il più scrupoloso esame d'un abile Scultore, e d'un Anatomico”, IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 238, copy (by Bicchierai) of Scarpa's letter to the museum, Pavia, 19 December 1794.

“Let the artists look above all at table XXVII …” (“Faccia loro [gli artisti] considerare sopra tutto la Tav. XXVII fig. 4 N.o 128. 129. 199. 193 fig. 5 R.S.T. Tav. XIX 187”), IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 238, copy of Scarpa's letter to the museum, Pavia, 19 December 1794. For a similar economy of models and judgements see e.g. an exchange between the Siena anatomist Paolo Mascagni and the Jena anatomist Justus Christian Loder, Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena (hereafter AFS), Fondo Mascagni Fasc. 25, Lett. 1–3: Giuseppe Gautieri to Mascagni, 30 Pratile an IX (1801).

See e.g. Fontana's letter to Caldani, 30 October 1791. In Mazzolini Ongaro , Epistolario (ref. 17), i, 319.

Guidetti had previously worked for the court as a kitchen aid and for the grand ducal Dragoons (IMSS, filza Negozi 1794, fol. 269–87 (doc. 57), “Copia della Portata fatta dai Soggetti impiegati a Ruolo Stabile nel Real Museo di Fisica rimessa alla Reale Segreteria della Corona, e di Corte il dì 31. Luglio 1794”). For his work with corpses see IMSS, filza Negozi 1795, fol. 57 (doc. 18). For Guidetti's injecting work see Fondo Fabbroni II 16, fol. 350–5: “1794, Ricordo dei Cadaveri portati da Diacinto Guidetti p[er] Istruzione del Sig[no]re Direttore Felice Fontana dagli Spedali di S[anta] Maria Nova [sic], e Innocenti”.

E.g. in Kleindienst, who portrays the Florentine anatomy workshop as “a wax manufacture of interdisciplinary working spirit” (“eine Wachsmanufaktur mit interdisziplinärem Arbeitsgeist”), Kleindienst , Ásthetisierte Anatomie (ref. 29), 61. Also Krüger-Fürhoff I. M. , Der versehrte Körper: Revisionen des klassizistischen Schönheitsideals (Göttingen, 2001), 85.

See e.g. Porter R. , “Gentlemen and geology: The emergence of a scientific career, 1660–1920”, The historical journal, xxi (1978), 809–36; Bennett J. A. , “The mechanics' philosophy and the mechanical philosophy”, History of science, xxiv (1986), 1986–28; and Shapin S. , “The image of the man of science”, in Porter R. (ed.), The Cambridge history of science, iv: The eighteenth century (Cambridge, 2003), 159–83.

Shapin S. , A social history of truth (Chicago, 1994), 361.

This was not the only attitude towards paid labourers however. Descartes for instance in Part 6 of his Discours de la méthode considered “the hope of gain” a “very effectual incentive” which “might cause to perform with exactitude all the things they were directed to accomplish”. Descartes René , Discourse on the method and meditations on first philosophy (New Haven, 1996), 44. I am grateful to Peter Dear for alerting me to this passage.

See e.g. the contributions in Shapin S. Lawrence C. , (eds), Science incarnate (Chicago, 1998); and Schaffer S. , “Experimenters' techniques, dyers' hands, and the electric planetarium”, Isis, xc (1997), 456–83.

For the justification of truth claims within Italian patronage relationships see Biagioli M. , Galileo courtier (Chicago, 1993), esp. 84–90.

Thus for instance Galileo's payment was not accounted for in the same payroll as those of other employees, ibid., 85. For Fontana's entry in the museum's payroll together with all other employees see e.g. IMSS, Negozi 1790, fol. 15v, 16r: “Ruolo d'Impiegati, Aggregati, e Pensionati al Servizio del Real Museo di Fisica e Istoria Naturale che si propone a Sua Altezza Reale per la Sovrana approvazione questo di 19. Novembre 1789”.

However, see Dooley B. , Science and the marketplace in early modern Italy (Lanham, 2001) for a claim for the existence of a “research branch” at early modern Italian universities.

“[L']onore, che nessun uomo può abbandonare”, Archivio di Stato, Florence (hereafter ASF), Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 360, no. 284 I, “Memoria dl Cav. Fontana in sua giustificazione” (n.d.), 48–49. See also e.g. a draft of a report on Fontana's plans for the foundation of a scientific academy to Pietro Leopoldo by Fontana, n.d. (but before 1789): “This vast plan … already does much honour to the Great Patron, and will do so even more before long” (“[Q]uesto vastissimo piano … fa già al presente tanto onore, e trappoco lo farà anche maggiore al Gran Mecenate”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789A, fol. 433–43). For Fontana's notion of honour as bound up with his truth claims see e.g. the letters to Caldani in Mazzolini and Ongaro, Epistolario (ref. 17), letters 99 and following. See also the “Memoria sopra le due Collezioni anatomiche del di Firenze R. Museo ” (1794), 2, 17, 26, in ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese 378, Protocollo LXV, signed by Paolo Mascagni, but in a different handwriting, and probably dictated by Fontana (for a discussion of the Memoria's authorship see below).

One of Susini's private customers was the Uffizi director Giuseppe Pelli, who found his wax portrait less than flattering: “Susini has finished my portrait in wax with valour…. They say that it is a good likeness; it seems to me to be too serious, and austere, an effect of the characteristic of age which always makes caricatures in contrast to the heart when it is not yet ulcerated by the years” (“Susini hà terminato il mio ritratto in cera con bravura…. Dicono che molto mi somiglia, a me pare di esser troppo serio, e burbero, effetto dl carattere dll'età che fà sempre dlle caricature in contrasto col cuore ancor quando non è ulcerato dagli anni”), Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence (hereafter BNCF), manuscript collection NA 1050, Pelli , Efemeridi, Serie II, xvii, fol. 3574v, 20 December 1789. The BNCF is currently creating a searchable database of the Efemeridi; vols i—xxx (1752–73) are online so far (12 May 2007). See http://ferrovia.bncf.firenze.sbn.it/pelli/it/progetto.html).

“[N]on me ne importa un cazzo [lit.: Prick], e non vo chieder nulla a nessuno”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789B, fol. 441.

See e.g. reports by Fontana in IMSS, filza Negozi 1789A, fol. 218 ff; Gagli in IMSS, filza Negozi 1789B, fol. 477 and fol. 480 ff.

“[E]gli disse, circa alla cera nessuno di quei minchioni del Museo non Lene possono avvedere perchè la Trementina è quella che ricopre ognicosa”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789B, fol. 480–90, “Quaderno In cui sta registrato tutte le mancanze dei lavoranti si in cera, come di Macchine dal di 3. 8bre 1782 a X: Il 1786”, fol. 482v.

The practice of appropriating workshop materials was common among early modern artisans throughout Europe. See e.g. Linebaugh P. , The London hanged: Crime and civil society in the eighteenth century, 2nd edn (London, 2003), 245–8; and Ashworth W. , “‘System of terror’: Samuel Bentham, accountability and dockyard reform during the Napleonic Wars”, Social history, xxiii (1998), 63–79.

“[Q]esti moti spontanei della mano non sono ancora stati da'nessuno ben determinati, nè sono forse di sua natura determinabili”, ASF, Segreteria di Finanze, Affari prima del 1788, no. 480. For the problem of automation in early modern lens production see Jackson M. , Spectrum of belief: Joseph von Fraunhofer and the craft of precision optics (Cambridge, MA, 2000).

“Segreta esperienza del contrario”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789A, fol. 60.

The last reference to the problem of latecoming, and the last attempt to instil punctuality in museum employees that I have found in the administrative documents up to the French invasion, is a reformed work schedule by Fabbroni of 1797, in which the vice-director shortened working hours, especially for the heads of the two workshops, Susini and Gori. IMSS, filza Negozi 1797, fol. 249 (doc. 18), Fabbroni, 20 May 1797: “Regolamento in aggiunta agli Ordini di SAR contenuti nel B.R. del dì 19. Luglio 1793.” From the time of the French occupation (1799), the museum's administrative records are significantly more sparse and do not record punctuality.

Goffman Erving , The presentation of the self in everyday life (New York, 1959), 104.

Ibid., 107.

Ibid., 112.

IMSS, filza Negozi 1789A, fol. 41–42, “Attestato del Susini”, 31 July 1781. It is not clear from the documents whether Susini testified against Ferrini because at this early stage he still assumed that Fontana would carry out his threat, or whether he saw in this situation a chance for his own advancement to the position of head modeller. In response to any later charges against them the artisans presented a united front; see e.g. statements of 25 June 1792 by Susini and Gori for their respective workshops (IMSS, filza negozi 1792, fol. 142–46, doc. 46 and 47).

IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, doc. 84: Copy of “Appunti del Dirett.e e Scritti difeso avuti a mano questo dì 31. Gennajo 1793” with Fabbroni's comments in the margins: “Come mai l'uomo che forma gli artefici dal Nulla; che le adopra come la Sega e il Martello, confessa egli adesso, che vi sono lavori esclusivi p[er] Susini, e come ardisce Egli di pronunziarlo!”.

IMSS, filza Negozi 1789A, fol. 441v, 442r (n.d.).

“[A]liena ad un'Uomo di Lettere”, ASF, Segreteria di Finanze Affari prima del 1788, 479 (“Casa Reale. Museo di Fisica. Disposizioni particolari”), secretary's report to the Grand Duke, n.d. but 1782.

IMSS, filza Negozi 1790A, fol. 26r (14 September 1789); filza Negozi 1790, fol. 89r (n.d.).

Neither in letters informing the administration of sickness, nor in petitions for money did the modellers describe their physical afflictions as caused or intensified by their work.

The anatomists working for the museum in the late eighteenth century were well-trained and renowned physicians who had received their training at the large Florentine hospital Santa Maria Nuova. According to Fabbroni, at the larger hospitals the dissector held at the same time the position of one of the head surgeons (IMSS, filza Negozi 1792, fol. 92r, report on dissector Tommaso Bonicoli, 28 June 1792). However, anatomists such as Mascagni considered the routine production of preparations for teaching purposes to be “mechanical” and detracting from research, AFS, Fondo Mascagni 3, Fasc. 58, letter of 14 December 1795.

“[L' occhio e la mano del dissetore potesse arrivare a spogliarle [le parti anatomiche] di tutte quelle membrane, e cellulari, che vi scorrono sopra”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, fol. 238v, my italics.

“[O]cchio anatomico”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, “Memoria di Antonio Matteucci risguardando il suo obbligo di dissettore delle preparazioni in cera, che si fanno per il servizio di S.A.R.”, fol. 228v (n.d., but 1770s).

“[E]saminare”, “osservare”, “vedere”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, 238v (n.d.).

“[I]1 vero stato naturale”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, “Memoria di Antonio Matteucci risguardando il suo obbligo di dissettore delle preparazioni in cera, che si fanno per il servizio di S.A.R.”, fol. 228v–229r (n.d., but 1770s).

“Seguendo qualche errore di Anatomia io ne devo essere responsabile, ed il Ferrini deve pressarsi a tutto quello che io gli consiglierò di fare per l'esatezza anatomica”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, fol. 238v, my italics.

“[P]erche fossera imitate dall' Artefice”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, fol. 235r, my italics.

Gagli's report, 9 September 1786, IMSS filza negozi 1789 B, fol. 477.

“[U]na vergognosa, e colpevole mancanza di attenzione”; “mille errori di occhio, e di mano”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1789 A, fol. 184 (2 October 1785), my italics. Note however that in his accounts of the production process Fontana did not discuss the fact that the models were in any case not supposed to be perfectly identical to any one preparation of a real body part, since they represented an idealized composite of multiple exemplars. Except for his stress on the use of large numbers of body parts in modelling, the director did not explain how this idealization was to be achieved. For the persistent tension between diversity and uniformity in early modern anatomical representations see also Siraisi Nancy , “Vesalius and human diversity in De humani corporis fabrica”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, lvii (1994), 60–88.

“[C]ol più gran Zelo ed attenzione possibile”, ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 360, no. 284 III, “Memoria dl Professore Cav.e Fontana sulle preparazioni anatomiche fatte per Vienna”.

His definition of attention thus went beyond the one given e.g. by the abbé Claude Yvon (1714–91) in the Encyclopédie: “a kind of microscope that enlarges objects” (“une espece de microscope qui grossit les objets”, Diderot Denis de Rond d'Alembert Jean (eds), Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné (Paris, 1751–72), i, 840, “Attention”). For early modern shifts of attention from the marvellous to the mundane see Daston L. , Eine kurze Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Aufmerksamkeit (Munich, 2001). For attention around 1800 see the contribution of Hagner M. , “Aufmerksamkeit als Ausnahmezustand”, in Haas N. Nägele R. Rheinberger H. (eds), Aufmerksamkeit (Eggingen, 1998), 273–94.

IMSS, Filza negozi 1789 A, fol. 184 (2 October 1785), for Fontana's offer of monetary incentives, and Filza negozi 1789 B, fol. 15 (n.d.), for a contract between a modeller and the museum.

Fontana's attitude wavers between finding the artisans incapable of attention, and unwilling to do so. His continuing habit of calling them “rogues” and “vagabonds” (“monelli”, “birbe”) points to the implication of moral failure (i.e. unwillingness) on their part. See e.g. the notes of the custodian Luigi Gagli on the modellers' work between 1 March and 23 November 1784, IMSS, Filza negozi 1789B, fol. 461–2.

“[E]ro obbligato ad ogni momento a riprendere, a guidare”, ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 360, no. 284 I, “Memoria dl Cav. Fontana in sua giustificazione” (n.d.), 15.

ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese 119, “Memoria presentata in Vienna a S.M. l'Imperatore Leopoldo” (n.d., but 1790). Translated in Knoefel , Fontana (ref. 8), 344.

ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 360, no. 284 I, “Memoria dl Cav. Fontana in sua giustificazione” (n.d.), 15.

See e.g. one memorandum submitted by Fontana to the court in 1790, translated and reprinted in Knoefel , Fontana (ref. 8), part III, Documents: ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte, Filza 119, “Summary protocol of affairs of the Department of the Crown and Court, … 1791”. See also another memorandum in ASF, Segreteria di Finanze Affari prima del 1788, pezzo 481, “Memoria del Direttore del Real Museo F. Fontana” (n.d., but circa 1786).

“[A]ver messa in pericolo per tante volte la mia salute”, ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 360, no. 284 I, “Memoria dl Cav. Fontana in sua giustificazione” (n.d.), 2 (see also 15); “ardito”, 7; “[a]ppassionato”, 22.

Both in its articulation, and in its move from a capacity that could be acquired by anyone to an inherent, inexplicable quality, this notion of attention is similar to a concept of genius developed by Diderot. Just as Fontana claimed that the contribution of the attentive natural philosopher was indispensable for achieving accurate representations of the body going beyond traditional illustrations and pickled specimens, in Diderot's view it was only the genius who could transcend existing conventions of representation to arrive at more truthful depictions of nature. These works could then serve as precedents for further imitation, just as Matteucci's preparations and Fontana's innovative ideas for the design and presentation of the models served for further imitation by the modellers. Dieckmann H. , “Diderot's conception of genius”, Journal of the history of ideas, ii (1941), 151–82; and Sommer H. , Génie: Zur Bedeutungsgeschichte des Wortes von der Renaissance zur Aufklärung (Frankfurt, 1998), esp. 118–23. Both Diderot and Fontana ultimately left open the question whether these special abilities were caused by physical peculiarities, but stressed their inseparability from their ‘owner’. Diderot, like Fontana, increasingly came to regard genius as a personal attribute that could not be fully explicated through reasoned principles; it was based on a unique conjunction of faculties similar to the natural philosophers' co-ordination of manual, visual, and mental activity. Ultimately, thus, the notion of the genius (like the notion of the connoisseur) did not resolve the problem of how to communicate and formalize subjective experience so as to make it authoritative. Schaffer S. , “Self evidence”, Critical inquiry, xviii (1992), 1992–62; Strickland S. W. , “Reopening the texts of romantic science: The language of experience in J. W. Ritter's Beweis”, in Gavroglu K. (eds), Trends in the historiography of science (Dordrecht, 1994), 385–96; and Strickland , “The ideology of self-knowledge and the practice of self-experimentation”, Eighteenth-century studies, xxxi (1992), 1992–71.

Litchfield R. B. , Emergence of a bureaucracy: The Florentine patricians (Princeton, 1986).

ASF, Segreteria di Finanze prima di 1788, pezzo 480, information written by Fontana on modellers, 15 January 1782: “Most of these ills will in future be resolved by separating the two modellers Ferrini and Susini…. In this manner all gatherings and reciprocal complicities are interrupted, and finally the works of everyone can be judged separately” (“[L]a maggior parte di questi mali sarà levata nell'avvenire col separare i due modellatori Ferrini, e Susini…. In questa maniera … si rompe l'unione, e le connivenze reciproche, e si giudichera per l'ultimo del lavoro separato di ciascuno”).

See e.g. the letter from Bartolini to Fontana on 29 July 1791 concerning copies of models for Pavia, IMSS, filza Negozi 1791, fol. 115 r.

See e.g. IMSS, Filza negozi 1789A, fol. 256 ff, “Copia di Biglietto estratto dal Protocollo Particolare dl di 25 Maggio 1782”, for the court's insistence that Fontana and Fabbroni obey the same rules as other employees.

Museo Zoologico ‘La Specola’, Florence , “1793. Giornale dei Modellatori”, “1796. Giornale dei Modellatori”, “1797. Giornale dei Modellatori”, “1798. Giornale dei Modellatori”.

“Del Gabinetto di Fisica poco potrebbesi dire in forma di Esame di Finanze”, ASF, Gianni, pezzo 7, inserto 95, “Memoria In Ordine al Biglietto de 19. Maggio 1789. Sul Gabinetto di Fisica, Lavori per il Littorale, e Maremma, Sussidj ordinarj, e Straordinarj, Gratificazioni, Dette per Case Rurale Imprestiti”, fol. 1.

“[I]l Metodo immaginato di Governo economico”; “costituire la vera cognizione delle qualità, forza, competenze, e rapporti delle Aziende medesime; Lorchè è il solo fondamentale Principio, d'onde prende vita ogni buono, ed esatto regolamento di questa Specie, d'onde si toglie ogni disordine e occultazione, e d'onde finalmente si distingue l'attività delle Entrate, la misura delle Spese, la capacità degl'Impiegati, ed i fondamenti sicuri per elargir Denaro, o per procurare risparmio”, ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 344, no. 77, letter by Bartolini of 28 August 1789.

“Lo Stanzone ove sta il Direttore Fontana costi pare un arsenale, p[er] le gran quantita di Robe tutte male in ordine e tanta cera inservibile”, ASF, Imperiale e Real Corte Lorenese, 344, no. 79, “Rapporto del Guardaportone del R. Museo Giuseppe Becchi” (September 1789).

“[U]n Capo di Dipartimento, il quale tenga acconto gli altri Ministri, esamini, e risponda delle loro operazioni”, ASF, Imperiale e Real Corte Lorenese, 344, no. 77 (27 August 1789).

IMSS, Filza negozi 1790, fol. 5–14: “Istruzioni per il sotto direttore e soprintendente economico”; fol. 32–36: “Istruzioni per il gabinetto di fisica”.

Thus the administration in practice denied Fontana the authority to determine the point in time when a perfectly accurate representation was achieved. See also Mazzolini , “Plastic anatomies” (ref. 11), 55.

Similarly, William Clark in his analysis of visitations of universities in early modern Germany has shown the use of forms and instructions in the disciplining both of the scholars visited and of the bureaucrat who conducted the visit: Clark, “On the ministerial registers of academic visitations”, in Becker P. Clark W. , (eds), Little tools of knowledge: Historical essays on academic and bureaucratic practices (Ann Arbor, 2001), 95–140.

“[D]eve essere in primo Luogo l'Interesse, e Splendor del Sovrano, che resulta dall'impiegare utilmente ciò che assegna al Museo; e può essere, in secondo Luogo, la privata gloria del Direttore … l'uno, o l'altro ebbi io stesso in mira egualmente, sempreche compatibil sembrò la loro unione al mio piccolo intendimento”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1792, doc. 44, Promemoria of Fabbroni (n.d., but 1792), fol. 136v.

“[C]ontegno urbane”; “quella deferenza che contribuisce alla maggior esatezza del Lavoro, al maggior risparmio di Spesa, ed' alla interna Armonia”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1792, Fabbroni's promemoria of June 1792, fol. 136 v.

For Fabbroni's affirmations of trust in his subordinates see e.g. his communication to the court of a report by Zuccagni on a herbarium offered to the museum, in which the vice-director asserted that due to his “trust” he judged it “superfluous” to examine the offer himself. (“La fiducia … mi fece giudicar superfluo ogni mio personale esame”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1792, fol. 230v, 7 August 1792.) For Fabbroni's articulation of expertise see also Maerker A. , “The tale of the hermaphrodite monkey: Classification, state interests and natural historical expertise between museum and court, 1791–4”, The British journal for the history of science, xxxix (2006), 29–47.

“Non vi è Modellatore, che avendo Esemplari esatti sotto gli occhi, e Cera fralle mani non possa e sappia imitarli”, IMSS, filza Negozi 1791, fol. 237r, report by Fabbroni on Galletti's priority claims, 26 November 1791.

Mazzolini , “Plastic anatomies” (ref. 11).

ASF, Imperiale e Real Corte Lorenese, 360, Protocollo XLI, no. 10, “Memoria del Caval.e Fontana in sua giustificazione”.

For Mascagni's involvement in the Florentine model production see also Ruffo P. , “Paolo Mascagni e il Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze”, in Vannozzi F. (ed.), La scienza illuminata: Paolo Mascagni nel suo tempo (1755–1815) (Siena, 1996), 241–51; and Schmidt G. , “Sul contributo di Paolo Mascagni alla collezione viennese delle cere anatomiche nel Josephinum”, ibid., 101–9.

“Per mia quiete e sicurezza, e per il vantaggio del Museo medesimo non volendo fidarmi di me solo domando che tali articoli sieno fissati insieme con persona intendente, e Superiore ad ogni eccezione, domando in conseguenza che il Professor Mascagni di Siena abbastanza conosciuto per le Sue Opere esamini le cere del Museo, e fissi con me quel che resta da farsi per render completa l'Anatomia in Cera”, IMSS, Filza Negozi 1793, fol. 363–4 (doc. 133), Fontana, 25 October 1793: “Memoria sopra il Real Museo di Storia Naturale”, 363v, my italics.

ASF, Segreteria di Finanze Affari prima del 1788, pezzo 480: Note in Fontana's hand, 3 November 1785, “Informazione del Memoriale di Paolo Mascagni”.

Mascagni Paolo , Vasorum lymphaticorum corporis humani historia et iconographia (Siena, 1787).

E.g. a premium of 2000 Lire from the Paris Académie des Sciences in 1792 (Gazzetta Toscana, 2 June 1792, 22).

In his own annotated copy of Mascagni's report to the court, Fabbroni noted that it had been written by Fontana's student Giuseppe Mangili (1767–1829) and dictated by Fontana, in Mascagni's presence. IMSS, Fondo Imperiale e Regio Museo di Fisica e di Storia Naturale, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, d.173, “Copia dello scritto del Mascagni [“Memoria sopra le due collezioni anatomiche del R. Museo di Firenze”]”. Fabbroni commented in the margins: “N.B. This was all written in the hand of Mangili who wrote it after Fontana's dictation, in the presence of Mascagni” (“N.B. Era tutto scritto di Mano del Mangili che lo scrisse alla detattura del Fontana, presente il Mascagni”). The copy of Mascagni's report submitted to the court is indeed signed by, but not written in the hand of Mascagni: ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 378, Protocollo LXV, “Memoria sopra de due Collezioni anatomiche del R. Museo di Firenze”.

ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese 378, Protocollo LXV: “Memoria sopra le due Collezioni anatomiche del R. Museo di Firenze”, March 1794, 2: “In a few months anyone can acquire the most precise and detailed ideas of everything that pertains to the fabric of the human body. This worthy monument to the Sovereign also does great honour to the one who imagined and directed it, and who carried it to the greatest possible perfection” (“[I]n pochi mesi potrà ciascuno acquistarsi le idee più precise, e più dettagliate di tuttociò che spetta alla fabbrica del corpo umano…. Questo monumento degno del Sovrano … fa dall'altro canto tanto onore a chi seppe immaginarlo e dirigerlo, portato all'ultima perfezione di cui è suscettibile”).

IMSS, Fondo Fabbroni II 16, fol. 173ff, “Copia dello scritto del Mascagni”; “Vede con che umiliante affettazione si chiamano sempre dal Fontana Cerajoli, i modellatori del Museo alle cui Spese fa tanta buona figura”, fol. 185; “Bugiardo Maligno! Vedi i Giornaletti tenuti da Loro, e chiedi perdono a Dio della tua perfida iniquità, o piuttosto di quella del Dirett. che ti dettò questo scritto”, fol. 187, emphasis in the original.

ASF, Imperiale e Reale Corte Lorenese, 378, Protocollo LXV.

Ibid.

Shapin , Truth (ref. 47), 405.

Foucault , Discipline (ref. 4).

E.g. Alder K. , Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763–1815 (Princeton 1997); and Ashworth , “Systems” (ref. 58).

Rule J. , “The property of skill in the period of manufacture”, in Joyce P. (ed.), The historical meanings of work (Cambridge, 1989), 99–118; and More C. , “The concept of skill”, in Skill and the English working class, 1870–1914 (London, 1980), 15–26.

E.g. Linebaugh , London (ref. 58); and Schaffer S. , “Fish and ships: Models in the Age of Reason”, in de Chadarevian Hopwood (eds), Models (ref. 11), 71–105.

Polanyi M. , Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy (Chicago, 1974 [1958]), esp. 54f.