2018-06-17
Anatomy of Man by Edouard Lanteri
Some time ago I discovered a remarkable Ecorchè model hiding in a dusty corner of the workshop. My father bought it many years before in an antiquary shop and I remember it among the cast collection since I was a kid. I was very surprised when I realized that was exactly the famous Anatomy of Man by the french sculptor Edouard Lanteri (1848–1917). Lanteri was professor at the South Kensington Arts Schools and first professor of Modelling at the College in London and he becomes famous also to have written one of the best seller art student’s manual: the Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure.
The ecorchè founded is an original plaster cast signed and dated E. Lanteri 1901.
Undertaken a small restoration of this plaster model, I removed an improper layer getting in this way all the incredibles fine details of the modeling. I did some grouting where it was necessary and I preferred to do nothing else to preserving the precious model as it was done.
Then I started to make a silicon rubber mold after well protecting the original surfaces and cast a new plaster model. The Lanteri Anatomy is available in our collection of Anatomical Studies as it is a beautiful piece and so useful for the study of human anatomy for the artists.
This anatomy soon became one of the most appreciated and requested of the entire collection by sculpture teachers, artists and art academies all over the world.
My admiration for this anatomical study has grown over time, so I continued and deepened my research on it. Luck showed up again to me when one day looking over an online bookshop I finally bought a very rare original 1902 catalog on which the Lanteri Anatomy was offered for sale together with many other plaster casts for art students reference. The english publisher Chapman & Hall Ltd. was the same for the Lanteri’s modeling manual as for the Anatomy plaster model and the Catalog of Casts too.
The Lanteri’s manual of sculpture show the Anatomy of Man during the various stages of the modeling in clay.
In addition is possible to see the final stage of a human figure after the ecorchè.
So in conclusion of my research I found also the mold maker who worked for Lanteri. An italian skilled craftsman named Enrico Cantoni (1860-1923) emigrated to London in the late nineteenth century. He was teacher of casting and molding at the Central School of Arts and Crafts around 1909 and worked as moulder for the Royal College of Art (including the National Art Training School) around 1904. Enrico Cantoni worked a lot with Lanteri and through some photos that show him working I could understand his way and technique of working. By comparing his technique with the original anatomy model I found many similarities. I could say, it is very likely, that the model founded was maked by Cantoni as all casts sold by Chapman & Hall Ltd.
