Through the skin: The role of visual culture and ceroplastics in the constitution of dermatology as a medical specialty in europe

Abstract

This paper analyzes the emergence of dermatology as a medical specialty, situating it in the context of the broader transformations brought by anatomical studies, changes in the classification of diseases and transformations in the visual culture since the 16th century. It also seeks to establish the connections between those changes, which favored the constitution of medical specialties, as well as moulage, a technique of modeling skin diseases in wax, which was of great importance for the dermatology's consolidation as a medical specialty.