Otros espacios de sociabilidad ilustrada: el gabinete de cera

Abstract

Wax sculpture lacks academic prestige, partly because of the populist quality of today's wax museums, and for this reason its tremendous social and artistic impact after its resurgence in the second half of the eighteenth century can be underestimated. At the Spanish court, scientific collections of anatomical figures, and portraits of historical and contemporary figures respectively were amassed. Both types of wax were enjoyed by the Spanish monarchs, notably Carlos IV and María Luisa, in whose portraits by Goya one can sense this new pleasure in the Age of the Enlightenment.