François Carlo Antommarchi
{{Short description|Italian physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = François Carlo Antommarchi
| image = Antommarchi.png
| image_size = 180px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1780|7|5|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Morsiglia, Corsica
| death_date = {{death date and age|1838|4|3|1780|7|5|df=yes}}
| death_place = Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
| occupation = Doctor of Medicine/Surgeon
| spouse =
| parents = Juan Antommarchi and Bidgetta Matey
| children =
}}
François Carlo Antommarchi (5 July 1780 – 4 March 1838) was Napoleon's physician from 1819 to his death in 1821.
He began his studies in Livorno, Italy, and later earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine at the University of Pisa in March 1808. Antommarchi then went to Florence, Italy, and was attached to the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova.Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova [http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/itineraries/itinerary/MedicineTuscany.html] Antommarchi earned the diploma of Surgeon in 1812 from the University of Florence (i.e. Imperial University) and was appointed by its president as Prosector. While in this capacity, Antommarchi worked under Paolo Mascagni (1752–1815){{cite web|url=http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/imaging/mascagni/ |title="Paolo Mascagni", The University of Iowa, 12 June 2006 |publisher=Lib.uiowa.edu |accessdate=10 October 2010}} starting on 7 July 1813.
Antommarchi left Florence for Saint Helena to become Napoleon I's physician until his death. Antommarchi took up this position at the behest of Napoleon's mother Maria Letizia Ramolino and his uncle Cardinal Joseph Fesch.Thomason, Henry D., "Napoleon, the First Emperor of France: From St. Helena to Santiago de Cuba. Being a Summary of Facts Concerning the Latter Days of Dr. François Antomarchi, the Last Physician to His Imperial Majesty", 1910 [https://archive.org/details/napoleonfirstem00thogoog] Antommarchi received a letter of employment on 19 December 1818. Antommarchi was sent to St. Helena in replacement of Dr Barry Edward O'Meara as Napoleon's personal physician because the illustrious captive would not agree to accept medical officers such as Dr Alexander Baxter or Dr James Roch Verling, who were proposed to him by his custodian Sir Hudson Lowe.
However, Napoleon was not so impressed by Antommarchi's medical skills and even dismissed him from his service a couple of times, only to let him resume his duty soon after. In the last moments of illness, Antommarchi was assisted by Dr Archibald Arnott, who was accepted by Napoleon at the pressing demands from his two officers, Count Montholon and Grand-Marshal Bertrand.see {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130331002711/http://inside-longwood.com/inside-longwood-chronology-1821.html Chronology of Napoleon's last months of illness]}}
After Napoleon's death, Antommarchi wrote The Last Moments of Napoleon where he concluded that Napoleon died of stomach cancer.
In 1831 Antommarchi went to Poland and became the general inspector of Polish hospitals during November UprisingSven Jonas Stille, Podróż do Polski, Warszawa 1985, p. 137. where he assisted the Polish people in an uprising against the Russians. He fled to Paris to escape the czar's forces.
Antommarchi then immigrated to Louisiana where he donated the bronze death mask of Napoleon to the people of New Orleans in 1834. Antommarchi lived in Veracruz, Mexico, for a brief period, and was employed there as an itinerant physician. He moved from Mexico and settled in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, where he again worked as a physician and privately taught anatomy and sculpting. The move to Cuba was prompted by Antommarchi seeking his cousin Antonio Juan Benjamin Antommarchi,Saby, Claude-Alain, "1815 Les naufragés de l'Empire aux Amériques", 2007 [https://books.google.com/books?id=NCzim531ddcC] who made his fortune in coffee plantations. Antommarchi became adept at performing surgery for the removal of cataracts. He died in Cuba, of yellow fever, on 3 April 1838, at the age of 57.{{cite web |url=http://www.acquirecontent.com/titles/medicinehealthand-bioethicsessential-primary-sources |title=Reynolds, James, "Head and Upper Body", 2006 |publisher=Acquirecontent.com |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914044453/http://www.acquirecontent.com/titles/medicinehealthand-bioethicsessential-primary-sources |archive-date=14 September 2009 |url-status=dead }}
Life chronology
| border="1" cellpadding="2" |
| style="width:300px;"|Event
! style="width:200px;"|Place ! style="width:200px;"|Date |
|---|
| Birth
|Morsiglia, Corsica, France |5 July 1780 |
| Earned Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine Degree
|Pisa, Italy |March 1808 |
| Earned Surgeon Diploma
|Florence, Italy |1812 |
| Became Prosector
|Florence, Italy |7 July 1813 |
| Became Napoleon I's physician
|Saint Helena, United Kingdom |19 December 1818 |
| Arrived in Saint Helena
|Saint Helena, United Kingdom |10 September 1819 |
| Made Napoleon's Death Mask
|Saint Helena, United Kingdom |7 May 1821 |
| Published "Anatomical Prints of the Human Body with Natural Dimensions"
|Paris, France |1823 |
| Published various books based on his diary of Napoleon's medical care
| |1823–1826 |
| Became general inspector of Polish hospitals
|Poland |1831 |
| Moved to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
|Santiago de Cuba, Cuba |1834 |
| Visited Louisiana
|Louisiana, United States |1834 |
| Visited Veracruz
|Veracruz, Mexico |June–July 1837Garzón-Sobrado, Eduardo, "Speech at the historic restoration of the death mask of the Emperor Napoleon I to the people of Mexico in the Chapultepec Palace, 25 July 2005 {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090105173051/http://inmf.org/mascarachap2.htm]}} |
| Death
|Santiago de Cuba, Cuba |3 April 1838 |
Works
File:NapoleonSteuben.jpg in Paris, France.]]
=Dissertation on cataract, 1808=
=Napoleon's death mask, 1821=
On 7 May 1821 Antommarchi took a plaster cast of Napoleon's face. Numerous copies of this cast have been made and some can be seen at these locations:
- Louisiana State Museum – The Cabildo, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States{{cite web|url=http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab4.htm |title=Louisiana Purchase |publisher=Lsm.crt.state.la.us |accessdate=10 October 2010}}
- Museo Napoleónico de La Habana, Habana, Cuba{{Cite web |url=http://www.cnpc.cult.cu/cnpc/museos/NapoleonicoActual/VVNapoleonico/Galeria.htm |title=Galerķa |access-date=24 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007010051/http://www.cnpc.cult.cu/cnpc/museos/NapoleonicoActual/VVNapoleonico/Galeria.htm |archive-date=7 October 2008 |url-status=dead }}
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States{{cite web|url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/69699 |title=The Art Institute of Chicago: Home: Under Construction |publisher=Artic.edu |accessdate=10 October 2010}}
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/gallery/napo.html |title=North Carolina Collection-Napoleon Death Mask |publisher=Lib.unc.edu |date=27 May 2009 |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726174840/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/gallery/napo.html |archive-date=26 July 2013 |url-status=dead }}
- Museo Nacional de Historia, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, Mexico{{cite web|url=http://inmf.org/mascarachap2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105173051/http://inmf.org/mascarachap2.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=5 January 2009 |title=Instituto Napoleónico México-Francia |publisher=Inmf.org |accessdate=10 October 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://mnh.inah.gob.mx/index_2.html |title=Museo Nacional De Historia |publisher=Mnh.inah.gob.mx |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202639/http://mnh.inah.gob.mx/index_2.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}
- Musée de l'Armée, Paris, France{{cite web|url=http://www.invalides.org/pages/menu.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040918035707/http://www.invalides.org/pages/menu.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=18 September 2004 |title=Document sans nom |publisher=Invalides.org |accessdate=10 October 2010}}
- St. Louis Mercantile Library, St. Louis, Missouri, United States{{cite web|url=http://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/ |title=St. Louis Mercantile Library |publisher=Umsl.edu |accessdate=10 October 2010}}
=Diary of Napoleon's medical care=
Antommarchi's diary contained detailed records of his medical care for Napoleon. This diary is a source for numerous books published between 1823 and 1826. These books have been published in many languages including French, English, German, Italian, and Spanish.Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné, Napoleon, Antommarchi, Francesco, O'Meara, Barry Edward, Charlet, Nicolas-Toussaint, "Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène", 1842 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ojoVAAAAQAAJ]Antommarchi, Francesco, "The last days of the Emperor Napoleon: By Doctor F. Antommarchi, His Physician. In Two Volumes.", 1825 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ft0GAAAAQAAJ]Thomason, Henry D., Antommarchi, Francesco, "Napoleon, the First Emperor of France: From St. Helena to Santiago de Cuba. Being a Summary of Facts Concerning the Latter Days of Dr. François Antomarchi, the Last Physician to His Imperial Majesty", 1910 [https://archive.org/details/napoleonfirstem00thogoog]Napoleon, Gourgaud, Gaspard, Montholon, Charles-Tristan, O'Meara, Barry Edward, Las Cases, Emanuel Auguste Dieudonné Marius Joseph, Antommarchi, Francesco, "Memoirs of the History of France During the Reign of Napoleon" 1823 [https://books.google.com/books?id=LwYBAAAAYAAJ]Antommarchi, Francesco, "The last days of Napoleon: memoirs of the last two years of Napoleon's exile", 1826 [https://archive.org/details/lastdaysnapoleo00frangoog]Antommarchi, Francesco, "Derniers momens de Napoléon, ou, Complément du Mémorial de Ste-Hélène: ou complément du mémorial de Ste-Hélène", 1825 [https://books.google.com/books?id=60cQAAAAYAAJ]Antommarchi, Francesco, "Mémoires du docteur Antommarchi, ou, Les derniers momens de Napoléon: ou Les derniers momens de Napoléon", 1825 [https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdudocteu00antogoog]Antommarchi, François, "Mémoires du docteur F. Antommarchi, ou Les derniers momens de Napoléon", 1825 [http://gallica2.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k204909p.image.r=antommarchi.f3.langEN]
=Anatomical Prints of the Human Body with Natural Dimensions, Paris, 1823=
Paolo Mascagni (1752–1815) was the most celebrated anatomist of his day. Antommarchi became Prosector to Mascagni who left manuscripts and drawings for an intended publication of a comprehensive complete anatomy with life-size figures. Antommarchi prepared the publication but was meanwhile called to Saint Helena. Antommarchi left, taking with him three copies of Mascagni's plates. When Antommarchi returned, he published these plates, printed from lithographs, under his own name in a monumental work which appeared from 1823 to 1826 under the title of: "Planches anatomiques du corps humain exécutées d'après les dimensions naturelles accompagnées d'un texte explicatif".Antommarchi, Francesco C., "Anatomical Prints of the Human Body with Natural Dimensions", 1826 [http://web2.bium.univ-paris5.fr/livanc/?cote=01898x02&do=chapitre]Antommarchi, Francisco, "Prodromo della grande anatomia seconda opera pstuma di Paolo Mascagni, posta in ordine, e poblicata a spese di una Societa innominata da Francisco Antommarchi", 1819Antommarchi, Francisco, "Tavole figurate di aalcume porti organiche del corpo umano degli animali e dei vegetablii, esposte nel prodromo della grande anatomia di Paolo Mascagni", 1819{{cite book|author1=Albert Chauncey Eycleshymer|author2=Daniel Martin Schoemaker|title=Anatomical Names: Especially the Basle Nomina Anatomica ("BNA")|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLcRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192|year=1917|publisher=W. Wood|page=192}} The plates for the publication were drawn and possibly engraved by Antoine Seratoni.
File:Antommarchi Annotated Anatomical Drawing.png's anatomical drawing with Antommarchi's annotations.]]
Name variants
François Carlo Antommarchi's original name has many variants in the literature due to translations and misspellings:
- Francesco Carlo Antommarchi (original Italian name)
- François Charles Antommarchi (French translation)
- Francisco Carlos Antommarchi (Spanish translation)
- Francis Charles Antommarchi (English translation)
- Francesco Carlo Antomarchi (misspelling)
The phonetic pronunciation of "François" is "frahn-swah".
Controversy
=Birth=
The literature cites both 1780 and 1789Gourdol, Jean-Yves, "Francesco Antommarchi 1789 – 1838. Physician Napoleon in Saint Helena", [http://www.medarus.org/Medecins/MedecinsTextes/antommarchi.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195238/http://www.medarus.org/Medecins/MedecinsTextes/antommarchi.html |date=27 September 2007 }} as the birth date of Antommarchi.
=Napoleon's death mask=
It is unclear if the original cast for the death mask of Napoleon made by Antommarchi survived. It is said that Antommarchi's cast failed but Dr Francis Burton apparently took another cast which survived. To complicate matters, Madame Bertrand, apparently related to Henri Gatien Bertrand and Napoleon's attendant, is said to have stolen a large part of the cast taken by Burton and given it to Antommarchi.{{cite web |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/top/deathmask.html |title="Napolean's death mask", National Museums Liverpool |publisher=Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608070657/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/top/deathmask.html |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=dead }} and {{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/08/15/104652218.pdf |title="Mystery of Napoleons Death Mask", The New York Times, 15 April 1915 |work=The New York Times|date=15 August 1915 |accessdate=10 October 2010 }}
No unequivocal and decisive proof has ever been presented to settle this controversy and it may never be resolved. Possible motivations for this controversy, for both parties, can include but are not limited to:
- Fierce rivalry between the conquerors, i.e. the British, and the conquered, i.e. the French
- Profiteering
- Fameseeking
=Cast of Napoleon's right hand=
Despite a post-mortem cast of Bonaparte's right hand, allegedly by Antommarchi, sold{{cite web |url=http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/NG32863.do |title="Historical: Hand of Napoleon Bonaparte", Designs Toscano |publisher=Designtoscano.com |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330070316/http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/NG32863.do |archive-date=30 March 2010 |url-status=dead }} and exhibited in museums,{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleonprisonnier.com/postmortem/reliquaires.html#inv |title="Napoleon, Prisoner — Post-mortem: The reliquaries", 2006 |publisher=Napoleonprisonnier.com |accessdate=10 October 2010}}"The Arcole Napoleonic Museum", [http://www.histoire-empire.org/articles/musees/arcole/le_musee_napoleon_d_arcole_2.htm] none of the persons that were present in Saint Helena when Napoleon died ever reported that such a cast occurred. On the contrary, his servant Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis regrets in his memoirs that nobody had the idea to cast Napoleon's hands.
{{cite book
|title= Souvenirs sur l'empereur Napoléon
|author=Saint-Denis, Louis-Étienne (Mameluck Ali)
|author2=Bourachot, Christophe
|year= 2000
|publisher=Arléa
|location= Paris
|isbn= 978-2-86959-493-7
|page= 277
|quote= Il est très fâcheux que l'on n'ait pas pensé à mouler les mains, lesquelles cependant étaient assez belles pour être conservées.}}
=Mascagni Heirs=
A legal dispute between Antommarchi and the heirs of Mascagni regarding the rights to Mascagni's plates was never resolved.Choulant, Ludwig, Mortimer, Frank, Fielding, Hudson G., Streeter, Edward C., "History and bibliography of anatomic illustration in its relation to anatomic science and the graphic arts", 1852 [https://books.google.com/books?id=-5oT1Zv9_BIC]Knight, Charles, "Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge: Second supplement", 1858 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3TFQAAAAMAAJ]{{cite web |url=http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/bai/eimas.htm |title=Eimas, Richard, "The Great Anatomy of Paolo Mascagni", 1963 |publisher=Lib.uiowa.edu |date=3 November 2002 |accessdate=10 October 2010 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709174413/http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/bai/eimas.htm |url-status=dead }}
Notes
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References
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External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090501192336/http://www.cnpc.cult.cu/cnpc/museos/NapoleonicoActual/VVNapoleonico/Principal.htm Museo Napoleónico de La Habana]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081118195402/http://inmf.org/mascarachap1.htm Death mask of Napoleon at the Chapultepec Castle, Mexico]}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antommarchi, Francesco}}
Category:19th-century French people
Category:19th-century French physicians
Category:18th-century French physicians
Category:November Uprising participants
Category:People from Haute-Corse
Category:University of Pisa alumni