The ceroplastic collection of the Royal Veterinary School in Madrid: a history waiting to be recovered

Abstract

The principal aim of this article is to raise awareness of a collection whose singular nature endows it with enormous heritage value. It presents a historiographical and artistic analysis of the collection of wax models formed at the Royal Veterinary College in Madrid in the period from 1793 to 1863 and currently preserved in the Complutense Veterinary Museum. The data extracted from primary documentary sources, such as the records from the old school which have been preserved, have been verified using secondary bibliography, complemented by scientific observations on the sculptures in question. The results obtained have enabled us to reconstruct the history of the creation and functioning of the ‘Waxworks Laboratory’, to identify the manufacturers and the technical choices they made, to date each model, and to determine the reasons behind the loss of a significant number of them.