Enterprise Interest None

The Gordon Museum, The Hodgkin Building, Guy s Hospital, London

The Gordon Museum The first museum was opened in 1826 The earliest specimens date from 1608 Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866) was the first medical curator His catalogue of 1829 lists 3000 exhibits Specimens include kidneys, adrenal glands and lymph nodes studied by Richard Bright, Thomas Addison & Thomas Hodgkin. The current building dates from 1905, following a donation from Robert Gordon, the Governor of Guy s Hospital.

The Gordon Museum Since 1998, part of King s College London (1829) GKT School of Medicine Guy s Hospital (1721) King s College Hospital (1840) St Thomas Hospital (?1106. Named in 1173 after St Thomas Becket) Current Curator: Mr William (Bill) Edwards

Joseph Towne 1806 1879 Born in Royston, near Cambridge UK, on 25 November 1806 The third son of Mary and Thomas Towne, both teachers As a child a miniature model of a monkey revealed his early talents Little is known of how he developed his skills Some training in marble sculpture seems likely

Wax Modeling in London During the 1780s an interest in wax modeling developed in London Marie Tussaud exhibited her work at the Lyceum in 1802 for the first time The Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures and Commerce offered a prize for wax models throughout the 1820s and 1830s

Wax Modeling in London The RSA had in mind the difficulties of medical schools in obtaining corpses for dissection Anatomical models were included in the competition Joseph Towne decided to enter the competition in 1825

Joseph Towne the Wax Modeler His father introduced him to William Clark, Professor of Anatomy at Cambridge He allowed him to study his collection of anatomical wax sculptures from Florence and Bologna

Joseph Towne the Wax Modeler His model of a skeleton was endorsed by Richard Dugard Grainger, head of a private anatomy school in Southwark and Sir Astley Cooper, leading anatomist of the day and chief surgeon at Guy s Hospital

Joseph Towne the Wax Modeler 1826 Towne was awarded Silver Medal for his model of a skeleton, preserved at the Gordon Museum Appointed official Modeler of the Guy s Medical School 1827 won the RSA Gold Medal for a series of models of the human brain His brother Elihu also won the Gold Medal in 1831 but died on the way to Egypt in 1835

Joseph Towne and Thomas Hodgkin Joseph was guided by Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866), an expert dissector, pathological investigator and curator of the new museum Hodgkin suggested to him that he should produce models of cutaneous diseases Other models were designed for surgical teaching

Joseph Towne and Thomas Addison Thomas Addison (1793-1860), the great dermatologist and Guy s physician, sent his dermatology patients to Towne By the time of his death, he had created 300 dermatological models, 240 pathological specimens and many other plaster mouldings (moulages) He was paid per model but from 1843 he received a retainer of 200 per annum

Joseph Towne the Sculptor Towne may have been instructed by Williams Behnes, a famous Victorian Sculptor He crafted several busts of famous medical men of Guy s Hospital The bust and plinth of Sir Astley Cooper was commissioned by grateful students

Joseph Towne and his Technique A reserved and quiet man, he was an accomplished public speaker Worked alone in a room for which only he had the key He was secretive and his knowledge was never written down or passed on Plaster and metal struts and pins have been found in the models The wax has been shown to contain bees wax and spermaceti He may have used a combination of casting, carving and modeling

Model for the Great Exhibition 1851

Industrial London lungs

The Skin Models

Muscles and Nerves

Heart and Brain

A Guy s Man He worked only for Guy s Hospital, for 53 years, and refused to work for any other hospitals in Britain He sent work to USA, India, Russia & Australia

Towne in Mumbai, India

RIP Joseph Towne 1806-1879 On the shoulders of giants. La Specola Museum, Florence, late 18C

Acknowledgements Bill Edwards, Curator, Gordon Museum Roberta Ballestriero & Ruth Richardson. Joseph Towne at the Gordon Museum. Gordon Museum, KCL. Ballestriero R. Anatomical models and wax Venuses: art masterpieces or scientific craft works. J Anat 2010; 216: 223-234 Hussey K D. Seen and Unseen: The Representation of Visible and Hidden Disease in the Waxworks of Joseph Towne at the Gordon Museum. 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century. 2017 (24). DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/ntn.787 Joshi R, D'Costa G, Kura MM. Moulages of J. J. Hospital. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 2010; 76: 583-8