Gaetano Giulio Zumbo

He was born in Syracuse (Siracusa), Sicily, and showed an entirely self-taught inclination to the sculptural arts and anatomy. Not familiar with chiseling, he learned to model colored wax. This led to his patronage by the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence, for whom he created a series of five morbid models, almost a memento mori, depicting the progressive Corruption after death, beginning with a dying man, followed by a corpse, a corpse just starting to decompose, half corrupt, another completely corrupt, and finally eaten by worms. Once displayed in the Medici gallery, it was later transferred to the cabinet of natural history and zoological specimens (now displayed in the Section of the Natural History Museum called La Specola). Zumbo left Florence for Genoa. There he completed wax sculptures: a Nativity and a Deposition. Similar work by Giuseppe Salerno is in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, Italy. The central character of the novel Secrecy (2013) by Rupert Thomson, is based on Zumbo.

The recorded working language is Italian. Positions recorded include abbot. Works named in the authority record are The Gaulic Disease, The Sepulchre and The Triumph of Time. Work by Gaetano Giulio Zumbo is recorded in the collections of Università di Firenze Museo Zoologico "La Specola".

• Name — Gaetano Zumbo • Born — 1656 • Birthplace — Syracuse, Italy • Died — 1701 • Place of death — Paris • Known for — Sculpture, Ceroplasty • Movement — Anatomical art