Clemente Michelangelo Susini (1754–1814) was an Italian sculptor who became renowned for his wax anatomical models, vividly and accurately depicting partly dissected corpses.
[1] In 1771 Felice Fontana asked Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany to provide financial support for a workshop to prepare wax models for use in teaching anatomy.
[1] In 1780 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, brother of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited the museum.
Susini organized his workshop to produce large volumes of models, which were shipped throughout Italy and beyond.
In 1799 Susina was appointed a professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, where he taught the drawing of nudes while continuing to run his workshop.
[9] The Venerina ("little Venus"), at the Anatomy and Obstetrics Museum in the Palazzo Poggi, Bologna, is a sensual model of the body of a young pregnant woman whose trunk holds removable layers that reveal her internal organs.
They highlight the nerves and, unlike Susini's less accurate earlier models, do not show lymphatic vessels in the brain.
It is clear that Susini and Boi worked closely together to ensure a high level of anatomical accuracy.