Gustave Courbet claimed to paint only “real and existing things,” yet an 1864 photograph of his studio suggests otherwise. In it, a life-sized female effigy sits propped against the wall. Not even Courbet — who vibrantly captured the flushed cheeks of high-society Frenchwomen — could do without the reliable artifice that is the artist’s mannequin, now the subject of an intriguing exhibition opening October 14 at Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum.

Silent Partners: Artist & Mannequin from Function to Fetish tracks the history of the artist’s mannequin from the 16th century, when it was an essential but unseen part of the artist’s toolkit, through the 20th century, when modernists elevated it as subject matter. The show includes every imaginable specimen, from carved 16th-century figurines and effigies to life-size mannequins and costly “stuffed Parisian” lay figures. Far from being a dry historical survey, curator Jane Munro promises an exploration of “the psychological presence of a figure that was realistic, yet unreal — lifelike, yet lifeless.”

Silent Partners: Artist & Mannequin from Function to Fetish opens October 14 at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Trumpington St, Cambridge, UK).