Saturday, March 3, 2012

Off to Italy in Search of the Material History of the Human Corpus with Evan Michelson


I have some very exciting news to report! This evening, my very good friend--and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in residence/Oddities star--Evan Michelson and are absconding to Italy to collect images and data related to a long term project which has long obsessed us both. In Evan's (very eloquent) words:
We will be exploring the social, spiritual, philosophical and material history of the human corpus from the Early Christian period, through the Enlightenment and into the Early Modern Era. This trip will take us to medical museums, ossuaries, cathedrals and burial grounds in several different cities, and it is the culmination of a lifelong obsession on both our parts.

Italy seems like the logical place to start: home of the Roman Catholic Church and the greatest of the early anatomical artists, it is also the home of the Renaissance - the historical pivot point that brought us from the Dark Ages into the Age of Science. Death in all its mystery has the most profound lessons to impart, and the religious attempt to transcend decay through myth transmuted the body into an object of sensual luxury and splendor. Science reclaimed the corpse, and in doing so gave rise to a different kind of purely mechanical beauty. That transitional moment is the object of our pilgrimage.
So please excuse some predicted silences, and look for reports and updates here! And please, feel free to send suggestions for sites to visit, things to eat, etc. to morbidanatomy[ag]gmail.com.

Ciao for now!

Image: Ercole Lelli's anatomical waxworks, Bologna, Italy; photo by Joanna Ebenstein

6 comments:

Owen said...

Hi, just wanted to leave a brief note, you may enjoy the photos in this blog post about death's head images in the church at the Pitié-Salpetrière hospital church in Paris :

http://magiclanternshowen.blogspot.com/2012/03/eternal-light.html

Kath said...

This sounds amazing! Good luck, I can't wait to see what will result from your trip.

Lady Demelza said...

I'm so thrilled for you! And I'll look forward to learning about what you discover...

ziggy said...

you've been tagged (not spam, I promise) http://nina-ziggy-hadzic.blogspot.com/2012/03/high-school-playlist-ohgodwhy.html

JE said...

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, and sorry to have been silent for so long! Internet was hard to come by in Italy...

phaedrakai said...

I'm heading to Rome in a fortnight and would love any suggestions on places you've visited on your travels? So many wunderkammer had their origins in Italian private collections and I'd love to see if any still exist in some form or other...