Many of the software tools and algorithms that we have developed for medical use will be directly applicable to the images of the wax models. For example, we have tools for studying the thickness of the heart muscle from MR and CT images. These could be adapted to look at the wax thickness for the Abbey models. Further analysis will include making accurate 3D computer models of the exhibits, which can be used to repair the models if they were damaged accidentally.
Professor Kawal Rhodek, Biomedical Engineering
04 May 2017
The wax-work heads of naval hero Horatio Nelson (pictured) and Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder, which are over two hundred years old, have been put through a scanner which uses the world’s most advanced radiology technology in a new collaboration between King’s, Westminster Abbey, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The project has brought together the UK’s leading radiographers, conservation experts and medical data analysts to discover more about the structure and composition of the heads, which are part of the Abbey’s collection of historic wax funeral effigies currently undergoing conservation before they go back on display.
The heads were examined in the radiology department of St Thomas’ Hospital outside clinical hours on a cutting-edge Siemens SOMATOM Force Dual Source CT Scanner, which only a few centres in the UK have. The scanner is used on more than 5,000 patients each year at St Thomas’, including heart and cancer patients. It is one of the fastest scanners available and can provide detailed, high-quality images while also delivering lower doses of radiation to patients.
The results of the scan will be analysed by Professor Kawal Rhode and Bill Edwards, from King’s, and the findings released later this year.
Dr Ronak Rajani, consultant cardiologist in cardiac imaging at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: ‘Our high-tech scanner is used on a daily basis to diagnose and monitor patients so it was a very different experience to use it to examine wax effigies which are hundreds of years old. Radiographer Dan Hodson and I were honoured to be a part of this exciting project and we hope that the findings from the scans can shed light on how these unique wax works were made.’
Dr Susan Jenkins, Curator, Westminster Abbey said: ‘We are delighted to collaborate on this ‘arts-meets-science’ project. This use of state-of-the-art technologies with non-invasive techniques provides new information about how these historic objects were made. This research contributes to our understanding of the rich past-life of these important objects.’
Westminster Abbey has an important collection of funeral effigies, dating from the death of King Edward III in 1377. They were originally made to lie on top of the coffin, dressed in ceremonial clothes, to represent the dead monarch lying beneath. The Abbey’s earliest wax effigy is Charles II (died 1685), whose hand has also been scanned in this collaboration.
Nelson’s wax head was made during his lifetime and acquired by the Abbey as a tourist attraction after his death. His lover, Lady Emma Hamilton, thought that it was so lifelike that she apparently arranged a lock of the hair as he always wore it.
Both effigies will form part of the display in a new museum and gallery at Westminster Abbey: The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which opens in 2018.
Picture credit: Dean & Chapter of Westminster/Paul Grover