Josef Benedikt Kuriger Explained

Josef Benedikt Kuriger (1754–1815),^[1] also spelled Curiger, was a sculptor and model maker from Einsiedeln, Schwyz, who pioneered embryological modeling.

Josef Benedikt Kuriger was the son of goldsmith Agustin Mathias Curiger, the brother of sculptor Joseph Anton Curiger, and the father of artist Ildefons Curiger. He was a student of Étienne-Pierre-Adrien Gois.^[2]

Kuriger's work at the anatomical theatre in Paris gave him the experience to move from portraits and devotional objects into anatomy and obstetrics.^[3] Kuriger created wax models of embryos, based on Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring's Latin: Icones embryonum humanorum her.^[4]

Literature

• Adrian Christoph Suter: Die anatomischen Reliefdarstellungen des Einsiedler Kleinkünstlers J. B. Kuriger, unpublished dissertation at the Medizinhistorisches Institut der Universitat Bern, 1986.

External links

• Picture of a clay plate, based on Kuriger's wax models

Notes and References

1. Archives Suisses des Traditions Populaires, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde., 1987, S.200
2. Web site: Josef Benedikt Kuriger (1754-1819) . 2023-12-30 . www.kunstbreite.ch.
3. Nick Hopwood: "Plastic Publishing in Embryology" in: Models. Third Dimension of Science, Stanford University Press, 2004, S.171
4. Nick Hopwood: Embryos in wax. Models from the Ziegler Studio, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, 2002, S.11