Clemente Susini

Clemente Michelangelo Susini
Medallion of Clemente Susini
Born	1754 Florence
Died	1814 (aged 59–60) Florence
Nationality	Florentine
Occupation	Sculptor
Known for	Wax anatomical models

Clemente Michelangelo Susini (1754–1814) was an Italian sculptor who became renowned for his wax anatomical models, vividly and accurately depicting partly dissected corpses. These models were praised by both doctors and artists.

Clemente Michelangelo Susini was born in 1754. He studied sculpture at the Royal Gallery in Florence. In 1771 Felice Fontana asked Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany to provide financial support for a workshop to prepare wax models for use in teaching anatomy. The workshop was part of the Natural History Museum, and later was called La Specola. The first modeler was Giuseppe Ferrini. Susini joined the wax-modelling workshop in 1773. He was given medical direction by Fontana. Susini had become the chief modeler at the workshop by 1782. His work included models of animals as well as of human anatomy.

In 1780 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, brother of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited the museum. He was profoundly impressed by the models, perceiving the value they would provide to students of medicine, and ordered a set of models. The work was undertaken between 1781 and 1786, and consisted of about 1000 wax sculptures. The models were based in part on anatomical drawings, in part on corpses dissected by anatomists such as Felice Fontana and Paolo Mascagni. These were carried by a train of hundreds of mules to Vienna, where they were exhibited at the "Josephinum", the Museum of the Medical University of Vienna. They still may be seen there.

As the result of the Austrian commission, Susini's work became much in demand from surgeons and anatomists. Susini organized his workshop to produce large volumes of models, which were shipped throughout Italy and beyond. The use of iron supports rather than natural skeletons let the workshop produce models more quickly and economically than other workshops. In 1799 Susina was appointed a professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, where he taught the drawing of nudes, while continuing to run his workshop. He was employed by the anatomist Paolo Mascagni to model Mascagni's many discoveries of the anatomy of the lymphatic system.