Paolo Mantegazza's Vision

The Science of Man behind the World's First Museum of Anthropology (Florence, Italy, 1869)

Bibliographic Data

ID2289494
AuthorsPaul Michael Taylor (Department of Anthropology Smithsonian Institution), Paul Taylor (0000-0002-8900-2912), Cesare Marino (Department of Anthropology Smithsonian Institution)
Year2019
Volume42
Issue2
Pages109-124
Publication date2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0892-8339 • E-ISSN: 1548-1379
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/muan.12209
OpenAlexW2972561576
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

This article examines some significant yet little-known early anthropological achievements in Italy. These include the world's first museum of anthropology, founded in 1869 by Paolo Mantegazza (1831-1910) at Florence (Firenze), Italy, where that same year he also established Italy's (and the world's) first cattedra (university professorship) of anthropology. Mantegazza sought to develop a unified "science of man," with a broad definition of the new discipline that brought together human physiological, ethnographic, and "comparative psychology" collections within his new anthropology museum, later complemented by a companion "psychological" museum. Even though Mantegazza's Florentine school of anthropology ended under Fascism, today the surviving Museum of Anthropology in Florence is still the repository of important ethnographic collections from early Italian traveler-explorers and other contributors. Their study was an important component of Mantegazza's science, which is receiving new attention by modern Italian anthropologists

Anthropology of art · Applied anthropology · Art history · Biological anthropology · Contemporary art · Digital anthropology · Ethnography · Sociology · Anthropology · Educational and Social Studies · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Political theory and Gramsci

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