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Wax model - Left Leg Écorgé

Left Leg Écorgé

  • Object:

    Wax model

  • Place of origin:

    Florence, Italy (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1550-ca. 1600 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Red wax

  • Museum number:

    4113-1854

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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This model in wax of a left leg écorgé is an anatomical study by an unknown artist made in Florence ca 1550.

It was formerly ascribed to Michelangelo and appeared to be a study for one of the legs of the Dead Christ supported on the lap of the Virgin, placed behind the high altar of the Cathedral of Florence. But the leg is also closely similar to the left leg of the dead Christ in the Pietà in St. Peter's in Rome.

The French word écorché literally means flayed or skinned. It has been adopted almost universally by scholars when speaking of a human figure stripped of its skin and thus displaying the superficial layers of muscles. Sculpted models or statuettes in which the muscles of the body are revealed (or écorchés) first appeared in sixteenth century Europe, and in Italy primarily.

Physical description

Red wax model of a left leg écorché, an anatomical study, including part of the hip. The ankle and heel broken off and replaced. Broken through the knee.

Place of Origin

Florence, Italy (made)

Date

ca. 1550-ca. 1600 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Red wax

Dimensions

Length: 191 mm

Object history note

Formerly in the Gherardini Collection of artists’ terracotta and wax models Acquired in 1854

Descriptive line

Red wax model of a left leg ecorche, an anatomical study, Italy (Florence), ca. 1550-1600

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1854. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 18.
Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, p. 128.
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume II: Text. Sixteenth to Twentieth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, p. 432.

Production Note

Formerly ascribed to Michelangelo

Materials

Wax

Subjects depicted

Leg (body part); écorché

Categories

Sculpture

Collection code

SCP

Download image
Qr_O102712
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