Gaetano Giulio Zumbo (1656–1701) was an Italian sculptor in wax or wax modeller of the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

era. His primary talents were not those generally considered as artistic but devoted to the creation of scientific models that were highly regarded as curiosity pieces in his time. He has also been called an anatomist. He was born in Siracusa,

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, and showed an entirely self-taught inclination to the sculptural arts and anatomy. Not familiar with chiseling, he learned to model colored wax. This led to his patronage by the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence, for whom he created a series of five morbid models, almost a

memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")

, depicting the progressive ''Corruption'' after death, beginning with a dying man, followed by a corpse, a corpse just starting to decompose, half corrupt, another completely corrupt, and finally eaten by worms. Once displayed in the Medici gallery, it was later transferred to the cabinet of natural history and zoological specimens (now displayed in the Section of the Natural History Museum called

La Specola The Museum of Zoology and Natural History, best known as La Specola, is an eclectic natural history museum in Florence, central Italy, located next to the Pitti Palace. The name '' Specola'' means observatory, a reference to the astronomical obse ...

). Zumbo left

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

for

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. There he completed wax sculptures: a Nativity and a Deposition. He formed a partnership with a French surgeon,

Guillaume Desnoues Guillaume Desnoues (born 1650 - died 1735) was a French surgeon. Biography He studied with Lescot, in 1680 he was received at ''the Academy of New Discoveries of Medicine'' by Nicolas de Blégny, he was forced into exile and, around 1691, was a ...

, and with him completed a number of anatomical studies, including a woman who died while in childbirth. With Denoues, he travelled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and at the Academy of Sciences presented a wax sculpture of the head with naturalistic depiction of veins, arteries, nerves, glands, and muscles. Similar work by

Giuseppe Salerno Giuseppe Salerno, more commonly called ''il Zoppo di Gangi'' (Cripple from the town of Gangi) (1588–1630) was an Italian painter active in his native Sicily in a Mannerist style. He may have used the title ''Zoppo'' because he was a pupil of Ga ...

is in the Sansevero Chapel in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The central character of the novel ''Secrecy'' (2013) by

Rupert Thomson Rupert Thomson, FRSL (born 5 November 1955) is an English writer. He is the author of thirteen critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning memoir. He has lived in many cities around the world, including Athens, Berlin, New York, Sydney, Lo ...

, is based on Zumbo.Rupert Thomson
" Fugitive Pieces"
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', March 1, 2013, accessed 15 March 2014.

Sources

External links

* 1656 births 1701 deaths Italian anatomists 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors People from Syracuse, Sicily {{Italy-sculptor-stub