Epilogue

The Epilogue traces a shift in attitude towards anatomical modelling. In the mid-eighteenth century anatomical models had been praised for their capacity to defy time in the sense that they both resisted the body’s physical decay and promised to provide lasting and timeless sources of corporeal knowledge. However, by the end of the century changing attitudes towards notions of authenticity and techniques of production caused some to doubt earlier anatomical models’ capacity to produce and mediate knowledge about the body. Anatomical modelling continued to be regarded as a useful and promising medical technique. Yet, by the end of the eighteenth century the very models that only a few decades earlier had fuelled much interest among both practitioners and lay audiences, had already started to slip into obsolescence.