Giovanni Manzolini to become a figure painter, Manzolini joined Ercole Lelli's studio at the age of 40 to learn the art of anatomical sculpture. He was made Lelli's assistant in 1743. Under Lelli, Manzolini was made chief assistant on the papal commission to make wax models for the Anatomy Museum of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute, holding this position for three years. He resigned in late 1746. He felt bitterly that Lelli had deprived him of recognition for his greater knowledge of anatomy and anatomical sculpture. After leaving Lelli, Manzolini opened his own studio for wax modelling and launched a
Écorché known as the “artist-anatomist” for the creation of a new science and the creative depiction to anatomy. Leonardo’s anatomical studies contributed to artistic exploration of the movement of the muscles, joints and bones. His goal was to analyze and understand the instruments behind the postures and gestures in the human body. The study of anatomical figures became popular among the medical academies across Europe around the 17th and 18th century, especially when there was a lack of bodies available for dissections. Medical students relied on these figures because they provided a good representation of what the anatomical model looks like.