Anna Morandi was born in 1714 in Bologna, Italy. She was raised in a traditional home where marriage, children, and a domestic lifestyle were natural choices for women. In 1736, she was married to her childhood sweetheart, Giovanni Manzolini, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna. She was 20, and he was 24 years old. After five years of marriage, she was the mother of six children. In 1755, her husband died, and she was left with very slender means of support. She received tempting offers from other universities, but she preferred to remain in her native city, Bologna. She closed a laborious and honored life in the city in 1774, at the age of 60 years.
Anna partnered with her husband, and then surpassed him in skill after his death in 1755 in the scientific knowledge of human anatomy as well as the accurate demonstration of anatomy in wax sculpture. During her famed household lectures on anatomy given before medical practitioners and grand tourists alike, she imparted expert knowledge of empirical anatomy derived from the dissection of, by her own account, of more than 1,000 cadavers, as well as of anatomical discoveries the couple and she alone made. She clearly demonstrated, both theoretically and practically, the wonderful structure of the human body.
Her collection of wax Models was known throughout Europe as Supellex Manzoliniana and was eagerly sought after to aid in the study of anatomy. Her work became the archetype of such Models as the Vassourie collection and the creations of Dr. Auzoux made from papier mache, which were the forerunners of those used in today's schools and colleges. A collection of her Models was acquired by the Medical Institute of Bologna and is housed at the Institute of Science in Bologna. Her was self-portrait showing her dissecting a human brain was placed from 1776 in the anatomy museum of the Institute of Sciences in Palazzo Poggi alongside her wax bust of her husband Giovanni Manzolini. They were returned to the Poggi in 2000.
– The title of Professor of Anatomy by the Institute of Bologna, 1756
– The added title of Modelatrice by the Institute of Bologna, 1760
– Honored by numerous heads of state
– Emperor Joseph II of Austria bought one of her Models and showed his appreciation of her skill and attainments
– Catherine II of Russia invited her to Moscow to lecture and made her a member of the Russian Royal Scientific Association
– The British Royal Scoiety elected her a member and invited her to lecture in London
– Honored in Italy as the Inventor and perfecter of anatomical preparations in wax
