Human skulls, Collection of Sebaldus Justinus Brugmans, 1815
Anatomisch Museum Rijks Universiteit Leiden

Sebaldus Justinus Brugmans (1763-1819) was above all a doer. He organised a great deal and sat on all kinds of committees. As Inspector-general of the Army (1795-1815) he had ample opportunity to expand the collection of human skulls, which he began for the benefit of instruction in physical anthropology (ethnology). Dutch medical officers in Napoleon's army, who had studied at the training college directed by Brugmans in Leiden, sent him heads or skulls of dead soldiers from enemy armies from every corner of Europe.When the Napoleonic period came to an end at Waterloo in 1815 Brugmans personally added a last consignment of skulls to his collection and provided them with a caption. From this caption the viewer can deduce where the original owner of the skull came from.