Accession No
4618
Brief Description
Plaster phrenological head (bust), by A.L. Vago, with accompanying booklet, English, 2/2 19th C
Origin
England
Maker
W. Nicholson & Sons (publisher) A.L. Vago (maker of head)
Class
biology; physiology; demonstration; books
Earliest Date
1850
Latest Date
1900
Inscription Date
Material
plaster; paper (two types); paint
Dimensions
head height 150mm; breadth 60mm; depth 77mm booklet length 147mm; breadth 100mm; thickness 8mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Gabor Cossa Antiques on 07/06/1997.
Inscription
‘PHRENOLOGY.’ (front of head)
‘NOW READY.—In Cloth, Price Two Shillings, or by Post
for Twenty-seven Stamps.
“ORTHODOX PHRENOLOGY,”
Second Edition.—Illustrated.
This work is arranged for the special use of learners, also to
show the harmony between Phrenology and Orthodox Princi-
ples, and particularly to convert the Sceptic.
A. L. VAGO,
114, Gray’s Inn Road, London, W.C.’ (paper label on back of head)
‘THE PEOPLE’S HAND BOOK
OF
PHRENOLOGY
COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF ITS
HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES.’ (cover of booklet)
Description Notes
Plaster phrenological head (bust), by A.L. Vago, with accompanying booklet, English, 2/2 19th C.
Hollow cast plaster head, cranium divided into sections by means of indentations. Each section has a paper label giving the attribute governed by that section. Glued-on label “PHRENOLOGY” at front and advertisement for book “ORTHODOX PHRENOLOGY” at back of base. Head has been broken at the neck and glued back together leaving some missing chips. The head has been painted at least twice, the latter time over some of the paper labels. Fair/poor condition.
Instruction booklet: paper bound booklet of 72 pages, containing descriptions of the physical manifestations of the skull governed by different characteristics, with diagrams. Front cover detached, double page giving names and locations of the phrenological organs detached, part of spine missing, back cover and spine only loosly attached, the whole slightly warped by damp. Complete. Poor/fair condition.
Described on invoice as plaster phrenological head with original manual.
References
Events
Description
Though he was not as well known as the Fowler brothers, Ambrose Lewis Vago (1839–1896) was a respected member of phrenological circles in the second half of the nineteenth century. The new science of phrenology claimed that the character of the brain shaped the skull, and in studying the surface of the head the phrenologist would understand an individual’s mind. Busts or models of the human head were produced as reference guides for practitioners. As the son of an immigrant Italian figure maker, Vago followed his father’s trade. In 1861, Vago was listed as a modeler and phrenological bust maker at 111 Gray’s Inn Lane, and he became the authorized modeler of criminal heads at the Newgate jail. This bust came with a booklet that was ‘arranged for the special use of learners… to show the harmony between Phrenology and Orthodox Principles, and particularly to convert the Sceptic’. Vago’s phrenological bust was considered an alternative to that produced by Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811–1896) and his brother Orson Fowler (1809–1887). The marked lines on Vago’s busts divided the skull differently that the bust produced by Fowler. Vago also claimed that the science of phrenology greatly assisted in modelling heads, and the arts more generally. In his 1880 publication, Instructions in the art of modelling clay, Vago wrote: ‘The pupil who aims at perfection in the art of modeling will do well to attend to the principles propounded by the phrenological theory.’
18/02/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 18/02/2014
FM:40612
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