It's actually really tricky to find (no, not the Fragonard Perfume Museum, or the Museum devoted to Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the painter). Unfortunately I had to rely on te Discovery channel to learn about Honoré Fragonard whose work is housed in the Musée Fragonard d'Alfort in France. Apparently there is not that much on the web, so I'll tell you what I remember from being enraptured while watching the episode.
Fragonard might have been a little crazy, but he did some macabre and neat things, like he skinned some humans and animals (post-mortem) and preserved them in such a way that all the muscles etc are perfectly visible and no one is particularly sure how he did it. One of his most famous works is "Horseman of the Apocalypse" which is a man riding a horse, neither with skin.
Now the more relevant works are the skeletons he collected of misborn aniimals and humans. Apparently birth defects were a lot more interesting back then. All of the skeletons have been verified and used to explain certain myths like the mermaid since he has a few skeletons of men and women with fused legs. Other than that, there are things like cyclops cows and horses (cyclops as in the one-eye, not the huge size), 5-legged sheep, other freaks and anomalies which look downright peculiar.
He was fired from his jobs periodically for being crazy, but inevitably hired at other presitigious institutions. Go figure.
http://www.vet-alfort.fr/fr/musee/musee.htm (see collections) http://www.metropoleparis.com/1996/61111038/fragonard.html
I do have to warn you again he was a bit of a sick puppy.
Apparently there are not a lot of photos on the web, but maybe this will pique your interest... or just leave you with the impression I'm a little twisted.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-14 10:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-15 03:24 am (UTC)I will get rid of candles to make space for it.
They are that cool.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-15 07:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-15 08:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-16 03:20 am (UTC)Fragonard might have been a little crazy, but he did some macabre and neat things, like he skinned some humans and animals (post-mortem) and preserved them in such a way that all the muscles etc are perfectly visible and no one is particularly sure how he did it. One of his most famous works is "Horseman of the Apocalypse" which is a man riding a horse, neither with skin.
Now the more relevant works are the skeletons he collected of misborn aniimals and humans. Apparently birth defects were a lot more interesting back then. All of the skeletons have been verified and used to explain certain myths like the mermaid since he has a few skeletons of men and women with fused legs. Other than that, there are things like cyclops cows and horses (cyclops as in the one-eye, not the huge size), 5-legged sheep, other freaks and anomalies which look downright peculiar.
He was fired from his jobs periodically for being crazy, but inevitably hired at other presitigious institutions. Go figure.
http://www.vet-alfort.fr/fr/musee/musee.htm (see collections)
http://www.metropoleparis.com/1996/61111038/fragonard.html
I do have to warn you again he was a bit of a sick puppy.
Apparently there are not a lot of photos on the web, but maybe this will pique your interest... or just leave you with the impression I'm a little twisted.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-16 03:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-16 03:51 am (UTC)Very cool, you are correct.