Anatomical Crucifixion (James Legg). Plaster cast, wooden cross. 1801

Royal Academy of Arts Collection: Object of the month August:

“This gruesome figure was cast from the corpse of a murderer, taken straight from the gallows to be nailed to a cross and flayed in order to settle an artistic debate. Three Royal Academicians – the sculptor Thomas Banks and painters Sir Benjamin West and Richard Cosway – conducted this experiment to prove their belief that most depictions of the Crucifixion were anatomically incorrect.”