Anatomy at Large: Caspar Wistar’s Models

By the late eighteenth century, anatomical models were a relatively common phenomenon in European universities, medical colleges, and private collections. Usually made from wax or plaster and often approximately life-sized, they functioned as both educational tools and prestigious objects. Yet in the young American city of Philadelphia, professor of anatomy Caspar Wistar (1761–1818) decided he needed something different for his quickly expanding classes than the models he had seen while studying in Europe. He collaborated with the sculptor William Rush (1756–1833) and collector and artist Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) and his son, the artist Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825). Together they created larger-than-life models of parts of the human head and neck, using an innovative mix of materials such as papier-mâché, wood, wax, and metal. The models were so well made that they were used for teaching into the twentieth century. This essay starts with a visual and material analysis of one such model and subsequently places it within the context of objects, people, practices, and discourse surrounding it to cast light on the importance of artisanal knowledge and skills for the development of Philadelphia as a center of medical education in the early nineteenth century.