The Mind Creative
When visiting Frederik Ruysch in Amsterdam in 1697, Tsar Peter
the Great kissed one of the specimens from his anatomical
museum, and afterwards bought the entire collection. Three
hundred years later, the Dutch crown prince, Willem Alexander,
when visiting St Petersburg, was withheld from seeing Ruysch’s
work. Diplomats had decided the prince had to be spared the sight
of the ‘macabre, deformed foetuses’ that Ruysch had preserved.
If he had heard this, Frederik Ruysch would have turned in his
grave. Not that he would have been surprised to hear that his
preparations had survived three centuries, for he would have
expected nothing less. Nor would he have been astonished to find
a prince taking an interest in his work. But he would have been
dismayed to hear his specimens described as macabre, since it
was precisely the beauty of his preparations that earned Ruysch
long-lasting fame. For centuries, friend and foe alike have agreed
that he should be credited, above all, with making anatomy an
acceptable pursuit.
A depiction of one of Ruysch’s displays,
featuring infant skeleton’s weeping into
handkerchiefs,