Attempts have been made to represent the whole human body, or body parts, in wax (or more frequently terracotta or wood) since the very earliest times. Archaeological excavation has revealed numerous examples of this practice, part way between magic, medicine and religion, in nearly all civilizations. In ancient Rome, for example, the sick asked to be healed by appealing to the gods (usually Aesculapius, god of medicine). Terracotta models of organs were used to indicate the disease from which they were suffering.
The first known anatomical representation of the human body was a sculpture to which neither art nor science can lay claim. This was the flayed man (so-called because the body is shown without its skin) produced in 1600 by Lodovico Cardi (1559 - 1613), who was known as "Il Cigoli". The artist trained in the Florentine school of Bronzino and soon developed a passion for the discipline of artistic anatomy. He attended numerous dissections of cadavers at the S. Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence. The flayed man, a very fine statue in red wax measuring 61 cm in height, displays all the fruits of his anatomical knowledge. It can still be admired at the Bargello National Museum.

About a century later, another great artist, the Sicilian abbot Gaetano Zumbo (1656-1701), who studied anatomy in Bologna, seat of one of the most prestigious universities in the world, became the very first to model anatomical models in different coloured waxes.
The first wax model in different colours depicting human anatomy that the Sicilian artist produced was a mans head: a stunning masterpiece of anatomical realism. The wax head is kept in the Museo della Specola (Observatory Museum) in Florence; original home of the Cagliari wax anatomical models.

The heyday of wax anatomical modelling and medical and surgical wax modelling in general did not really begin until the eighteenth century, when the problem of training doctors, surgeons and midwives (obstetricians) became increasingly pressing. Lecturers found wax medical models were very useful in helping their young students learn more about basic disciplines (anatomy, physiology, surgical anatomy and zoology) and applied subjects (clinical medicine and surgery, obstetrics etc.).The wax constructions provided an enormously important teaching aid. They allowed students to find out more about human body structures which may be difficult to see during the dissection of a cadaver. The models helped them to memorize the layout of difficult areas and could be used to recreate the most common surgical operations or the appearance of specific diseases.

A school of celebrated wax modellers began to form in Bologna from the beginning of the Eighteenth century. These master craftsmen were ultimately responsible for inspiring the Florentine artists at the Museo della Specola (Observatory Museum). The Bolognese Ercole Lelli (1702-1766), a painter, sculptor and architect with a thirst for knowledge of human anatomy, decided to use coloured wax models to teach students about the structure of the human body without the need for dissection. Lelli produced his anatomical preparations by molding rags and tow soaked in wax and turpentine oil around real human skeletons. In 1742, Lelli was commissioned by Pope Lambertini to produce a collection of wax models for the University of Bologna Anatomy Laboratory. Lelli was subsequently assisted by his contemporary the Bolognese Giovanni Manzolini, (1700-1755), an artist (painter and sculptor) and anatomist, who was aided in his work by his wife Anna Morandi(1716-1774). By the time her husband died, Anna Morandi had acquired considerable skill as an anatomist and continued to produce wax models. She became so proficient that she won fame throughout Europe. Anna Morandi was probably the only woman involved in wax anatomical modelling at that time and also taught Human Anatomy at the University in Bologna.

The Florentine wax anatomical modelling school was a direct offshoot of the Bolognese school and came into being through the efforts of the Florentine surgeon Giuseppe Galletti, professor of obstetrics in the main hospital of S. Maria Nuova in Florence. Galletti went to Bologna to see the work of Lelli and of the Manzolinis. He also saw obstetric wax models produced by Giovanni Antonio Galli (1708-1782), professor of obstetrics in Bologna. So captivated was he by the beauty of these works of art that he endeavored to set up a collection of wax obstetric models as soon as he returned to Florence.

After many teething problems, Galletti eventually met the modeller Giuseppe Ferrini and was able to create a series of obstetric models in terracotta and wax, which were used to demonstrate the various types of birth to students of medicine and surgery and students studying in the school of Obstetrics. In 1771, when the La Specola Natural History Museum was set up (the most important museum of its kind in Florence and all of Europe at its time), Ferrini began to work under the guidance of Felice Fontana, who was founder of the famous wax anatomical modelling workshop and employer of Clemente Susini, creator of the Cagliari wax models. Many other Italian and foreign university and national museums possess wax anatomical model collections produced in the Florentine school. Italian museums with wax model collections include Florence, Bologna and Cagliari, as already mentioned, and also Pavia, Pisa, Modena and Trapani. Foreign museums with collections of wax models include the Josephinum Military Academy of Health Museum in Vienna, the British Museum in London, the Semmelweis Museum in Budapest, the Anatomy Department Museum at the University of Leyden in Holland, and others.