The birth in a museum or the birth of a museum: the obstetric collection in Padua

The birth in a museum or the birth of a museum: the obstetric collection in Padua

Department of Gynaecological Sciences University of Padua http://www.ginecologia.unipd.it

Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010

The obstetric collection in Padua

The whole art of Medicine lies in the observation

Sir William Osler



In Medicine, the image has always been a teaching aid and a fundamental accomplishment to the theoretical studies.The books and the atlases, with engravings and drawings work of famous artists, were in Latin, the international and official language of the Medicine, known by physicians but not by midwives and by a new figure that, from 1600, appeared on the births scene: the surgeon-obstetrician, the accoucheur in France.

Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010


William Hunter Anatomia uteri humani gravidi Tabulis illustrata, 1774William Smellie Tabulae Anatomicae, 1758 Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010


In the 18th century, in Europe, because of the high mortality among mothers and infants and the illicite exercise of the profession, the rulers began to take an interest in this educational problem and created schools for these women and men.The books of Medicine were too difficult and so many academic teachers ordered to ceroplastic artists the Supelex obstetricia, anatomical models in wax or clay, to teach them the anatomy and the physiology of the human body.The three-dimensional perspective of the models replaces the two-dimensional perspective of the drawings and gives a much more real view and handling.


The obstetric collection in PaduaMarina CiminoModena 17th December 2010The Department of Gynaecological Sciences takes in a collection of 40 female anatomical models, in polychrome wax and 22 female pelvis, in coloured clay, acquired for didactic use by Prof. Luigi Calza (1736-1783), obstetrician at the University of Padova from 1765.The authors were: Giovan Battista Manfredini and Giovan Battista Sandri, ceroplastics from Bologna.

The collection is online::http://www.ginecologia.unipd.it Anatomical wax model: term pregnancy, fetus in cephalic presentation.

The obstetric collection in PaduaGiovan Battista Manfredini (Bologna 1742-1789)He was born in Bologna and was an artist skilled in anatomical works, especially obstetric works. He studied with the ceroplastic artists Giovanni Manzolini and Anna Morandi, in Bologna.Manfredini had a predilection for the wax, but he created some models in clay, too.In 1785 he was member of the Accademia Clementina, like an anatomical sculptor.He collaborated with the greater anatomists of his period, like Carlo Mondini and Antonio Scarpa, and with his ceroplastic collegue Alessandro Barbieri.Manfredini was the author of 60 anatomical waxes ordered by Luigi Calza for his obstetric teaching, in Padua.Then, the artist was in Modena where, between 1773 and 1776, he sculptured 52 obstetric models ordered by Francesco Febbrari, with the collaboration of the great anatomist Antonio Scarpa.In Rome, Manfredini was the author of 36 anatomical models in wax, ordered by Cardinal De Zelada, as a teaching aid for the Anatomical Museum.In 1783 he was in Bologna, where created some anatomical models in wax about the visceral system, vessels and nerves.The work was completed by Alessandro Barbieri.



Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010 Anatomical wax model: term pregnancy, fetus in cephalic presentation.


Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010 Anatomical wax model: term pregnancy, fetus in cephalic presentation with amniotic membranes.


Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010 Anatomical wax model: uterus, second trimester of pregnancy.


Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010 Anatomical wax model: term pregnancy, fetus in cephalic presentation.


Anatomical wax model: manual removal of the placenta. Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010


Anatomical wax model: uterus, first trimester of pregnancy.


The obstetric collection in PaduaPietro o Giovanni Battista Sandri (Bologna ?)The identity of the second artist who collaborated to the creation of the anatomical collection in Padua is uncertain.Pietro Selvatico, in his book: Guida di Padova e dei suoi principali contorni, 1869, is the first to mention him with the name Pietro.Alfonso Corradi in his:DellOstetricia in Italia, 1874, cites in a note G.B. Sandri, author of the clays of the Obstetric Museum in Bologna.Marco Bortolotti and Claudia Pancino in:Ars Obstetricia Bononiensis, 1988, cite a clay moulder called Giovanni Battista Sandri, who collaborated with the couple Manzolini for the Supelex Obstetricia in Bologna.The source of this information is Michele Medici in: Elogio dei coniugi Manzolini, 1858.Now, the name Pietro Sandri is improbable, because he was born in 1789 and the collection in Padua is dated 1765.Giovanni Battista Sandri could be more credible, because he worked in Bologna, in a previous period to the Padua collection.Moreover, Vincenzo Malacarne in:Oggetti interessanti dOstetricia nel Museo Ostetrico della Reale Universit di Padova, 1807, reports the number of waxes and clays complete, like in 1765, without any addition.



Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010Anatomical clay model: term pregnancy, fetus in breech presentation.


Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010Anatomical clay model: term pregnancy, fetus with incomplete breech presentation.


Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010Anatomical clay model: term pregnancy, fetus in face presentation.


Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010Anatomical clay model: term pregnancy, fetus in cephalic presentation.


Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010Anatomical clay model: term pregnancy, fetus with extremity prolapse.


Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010In 1819, Rodolfo Lamprecht founded the modern Obstetrics and Gynaecological Clinic, with the rich library, and completed the collection with many obstetric instruments like forceps, pelvimetry and other tools of 18th-19th century.These seem instruments of torture to our modern eyes, but in the past they were used to save the life of the mother during difficult labours.


Marina Cimino Modena 17th December 2010Obstetric instruments: XIXth century, first half.


This happened in the past

And now?



Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010These anatomical models are made with new and precious materials, obtained thanks to innovative procedures and hand-painted, with ecological colours.They reproduce the softness and the elasticity of the human skin.These models are used for obstetric practical lessons of the midwives, in the current academic year.Anatomical skinlike model: the female urogenital tract.

La collezione ostetrica di Padova


Marina Cimino Modena 17 Dicembre 2010

Anatomical skinlike model: uterine cavity with mobile fetus, placenta and umbilical cord. Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010


Anatomical skinlike model: term pregnancy and fetus in cephalic presentation. Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010


Anatomical skinlike model: term pregnancy, uterus and fetus. Marina CiminoModena 17th December 2010


Phaidra, an acronym for Permanent Hosting, Archiving and Indexing of Digital Resources and Assets, is a comprehensive university digital asset management system with long-term archiving functions. Phaidra offers the possibility to archive valuable data university-wide with permanent security and systematic input, offering multilingual access using metadata (data about data), thus providing worldwide availability. As a constant data pool for administration, research and teaching, resources can be used flexibly, where continual indexing allows exact location and retrieval of the digital objects.The active use of Phaidra managing, saving and linking of objects (texts, images, audio files, links and so on) is available now only to the University Library System of Padua.Searching and browsing of the contents is possible worldwide, without logging in, to:

https://phaidra.cab.unipd.it/


The obstetric collection in Padua Phaidra Working GroupLibrariansLorisa Andreoli (Project Management) Marina Cimino (Customers Management) Alberta Coi Anna Mioni Anna Muffato Donata Pieri Michele Visentin

Technical supportYuri Carrer (Technical Director)Giorgio Osti Lucio Ton


The obstetric collection in PaduaImMed Images in Medicine, is a digitization project of the Medicine Faculty.The project was born in 2006 and now collects about 800 images from ancient and precious books and atlases from the Medicine libraries, dated from 1794 to 1844.The images are supported by bibliographic, technical and administrative metadata.

http://polomedicina.cab.unipd.it/


PortaleThe obstetric collection in Padua

IndiceThe obstetric collection in Padua


The human body is always the same, what

changes is only the way you look at it

Thanks for your attention


The birth in a museum or the birth of a museum: the obstetric collection in Padua

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