| Claude-Ambroise Seurat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Variously listed as:
Troyes, France |
| Died | after 1833 |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names |
|
| Occupation | Freak show attraction |
| Known for | being extraordinarily underweight |
| Height | Variously given as:
|
Claude-Ambroise Seurat (10 April 1797 or 4 April 1798 – after 1833) was a freak show attraction from Troyes, France. He was known as "the anatomical man or the living skeleton" (French: l'homme anatomique ou le squelette vivant) due to his extraordinarily low body weight.
Life
The date of Seurat's birth is uncertain, being variously reported as either 10 April 1797 or 4 April 1798. Seurat's tours across Europe aroused controversy and because of the publicity, there was extensive interest in his life, particularly from the medical establishment. An account, for instance, cited that Seurat was born healthy and was normal like other children except for his depressed chest.
By age 14, his health dwindled so that his frame already became skeletal in form. When he visited London for a tour in 1825, Seurat was described as having normal height, being between 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) and 5 ft 71⁄2 in (1.71 m), but with an emaciated body; at the time, he weighed 78 pounds (35.4 kg). His upper arm circumference was 4 inches (10 cm) and his waist measured less than 24 inches (61 cm) around, while his neck was short, flat, and broad.
Later, in 1832, he was stated to have weighed 43 French pounds and was 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) tall. Seurat's last recorded performance was in 1833 at Dinan in Brittany.
Seurat was also the subject of an anatomical drawing of Francisco Goya after the Spanish painter met him in 1826 at a circus in Bordeaux.
The date of Seurat's death is unknown. In 1868, Gilbert Richard Redgrave commented: "I have not yet been able to ascertain the date of his death. Who knows whether the poor fellow may not still be going the round of the French fairs?"
After his death it was discovered that a tapeworm had been depriving Seurat of nutrition.
References
- ^ Park, Richard; Park, Maureen (21 December 1991). "Goya's living skeleton". BMJ. 303 (6817): 1594–1596. doi:10.1136/bmj.303.6817.1594. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1676240. PMID 1820772.
- ^ Redgrave, Gilbert R. (4 July 1868). "Reply: The Living Skeleton, Claude Ambroise Seurat". Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-Communication for Literary Men, General Readers, ETC. 4th. Vol. 2 (1st ed.). London: The Philosophical Institution (published July–December 1868). p. 21. Retrieved 12 October 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Altick, Richard Daniel (1978). The Shows of London. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0674807310.
- William Hone. "The Every-Day Book". Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- Cissé, Joseph de (n.d.). Description intéressante de Claude-Ambroise Seurat appelé l'homme anatomique, ou le squelette vivant [Interesting description of Claude-Ambroise Seurat called the anatomical man, or the living skeleton]. Nantes: Victor Mangin.
- Le livre des records, 1984
- Armstrong, Rachel (1993). "The role of caricature in medicine". Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine. 16 (4): 165–169. doi:10.3109/17453059309064864. PMID 8263282.
- HOARE, STEPHEN (2020). Piccadilly. The History Press.
