Healthy Living in Late Renaissance Italy

343 Pages·2014·6.08 MB·English

by  Sandra Cavallo, Tessa Storey

OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
H EALTHY LIVING IN
L ATE RENAISSANCE ITALY
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
H ealthy Living in Late
Renaissance Italy
S ANDRA CAVALLO
and
T ESSA STOREY
1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
3
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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
A cknowledgements
F irst of all we would like to thank the Wellcome Trust whose generous funding in
the form of a History of Medicine Project Grant (087266/Z/08/Z January
2009–September 2012) meant that we have been able to research and write this
book. We are also grateful to the Isobel T ornley Fund for a grant that has helped
with the expenses related to the publication of the images in this book and to the
Archive of the Vicariato in Rome for permission to photograph documents.
I n the course of such a long project many people have contributed in various
ways and f rstly we would like to acknowledge our debt to Marta Ajmar who has
acted as our adviser on various aspects of the project. She not only shared her ideas
and expertise on material culture, but identif ed several of the objects we discuss in
the book. Furthermore, she has written some of the text relating to objects in the
chapter on ‘Air’ as well as several of the extended captions for the illustrations. We
acknowledge these latter contributions with her initials on the captions.
W e are particularly grateful to those who read early drafts of chapters and gave
us their valuable comments: Carol Rawclif e and Marlyn Nicoud read C hapter 1 ;
Silvia de Renzi C hapter 3 ; and Francois Quiviger Chapter 6—as did Maria Pia
Donato who also gave us extensive advice on the passions. We have also benef ted
from the expertise of Hugo Blake on objects of everyday use and archeological
f ndings; Elaine Leong, Silvia de Renzi, Christelle Rabier, and Giulia Calvi for
helpful references, discussions, and suggestions; and Hugo Crespo, for providing
information about the Fonseca family.
O thers have helped us in other very important ways. Viviana Tagliaferri has
of ered valuable assistance in tracking down images and getting permissions, at
times a very trying business indeed. Alessandra Chessa has done so too, as well as
giving us useful insights into some of the objects and images. Roberto Benedetti
was meticulous in his ef orts to help us ferret out, photograph, and organize many
of our documents. We would also like to thank Maria Conforti for her help at the
Biblioteca di Medicina in Rome. Finally, a huge thank you to Suzy Knight who has
sat up many a late night conscientiously copy-editing our chapters with great care
and patience.
W e have also greatly appreciated the opportunity to give our ideas a f rst airing
at numerous conferences and seminars and we thank the participants for their
comments and questions: SCSC Geneva (2009); RSA Venice (2010); ‘From Space
to Place: the Spatial Turn in History’, German Historical Institute, London (2010);
Anglo-American Conference of Historians: Environment in History, London
(2010); Shef eld University History seminar series (2010); ‘Indoors: Spaces,
F amilies and Communities (16th–18th Centuries)’, Instituto de Ciencias Sociais,
Lisbon (2011); Southampton University History seminar series (2011), IHR Late
Medieval and Renaissance Italy Seminar (2011); Anglo-American Conference of
Historians: Health in History, London (2011); ‘Sport in Early Modern Culture’,
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
vi Acknowledgements
German Historical Institute, London (2011); ‘Clothing and the Culture of A ppearance
in Early Modern Europe’, Fundacion Camberes, Madrid (2012); ‘History of
M edicine in the Household’, University of Warwick (2012); SSHM conference
‘Emotions, Health and Wellbeing’, Queen Mary, University of London (2012);
and ‘Objects as Historical Evidence’, European University Institute Seminar,
F lorence (2012).
F inally, Tessa would like to thank her family, but particularly James, Emily, and
Edward for their endless support and patience throughout and Sandra thanks
Clare Coope and Laurence Lumley for their insightful comments about the images
used in this study.
S .C. and T.S.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
C ontents
L ist of Plates v iii
L ist of Figures x
L ist of Abbreviations x iii
I ntroduction 1
1 . P rint and a Culture of Prevention 1 3
2 . P ractices of Healthy Living: T e Sources 4 8
3 . W orrying About the Air 7 0
4 . A Good Night’s Sleep 1 13
5 . G entle Exercise and Genteel Living 1 45
6 . T e Well-Tempered Man 1 79
7 . ‘ Salute!’ (Cheers!) Drinking to Your Health 2 09
8 . E xcretions as Excrements: T e Hygiene of the Body 2 40
C onclusions 2 70
B ibliography 2 80
P icture Acknowledgements 3 03
I ndex 3 05
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
L ist of Plates
1 . S inibaldo Scorza (1589–1631), P iazza Pasquino a Roma (detail), oil painting; Museo
Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome
2 . G uercino, Portrait of Cardinal Bernardino Spada, 1631, oil painting; Palazzo Spada,
Rome
3 . G ian Domenico Cerrini (attrib.) (1601–86), P ortrait of Orazio Spada, oil painting;
Palazzo Spada, Rome
4 . T e Meridiana Gallery; Palazzo Spada, Rome
5 . E berhard Kelhau (Monsú Bernardo, attr.), P ortrait of Maria Veralli and Her Children,
1663–5, oil painting; Palazzo Spada, Rome
6 . C hristian Reder (Monsú Leandro), V iew of Castel Viscardo, early eighteenth century,
fresco; Palazzo Spada, Rome
7 . A lessandro Allori, B irth of the Virgin (detail), 1595, oil painting; church of Santa Maria
Nuova, Cortona
8 . C eramic hand-warmer, Castello Sforzesco, Milan; Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata
(inv. maioliche 43)
9 . S ilver leather pillow, seventeenth century; Museo Bardini, Florence (inv. 794)
1 0. S ilver leather pillow, red painted, second half of the sixteenth century; Museo Bardini,
Florence (inv. 1028)
1 1. U nknown, P ortrait of Andrea Doria with a Cat, 1550s, oil painting; Palazzo Doria,
Genoa
1 2. A ndrea del Sarto, B irth of the Virgin 1513, fresco; SS Annunziata, Florence, Photo
Scala.
1 3. O il painting a fter Lambert S ustris (?) (1515–68), T e Birth of a Baby ; Wellcome
Library, London
1 4. D rawing for a bed, 1540s; Fondazione Querini-Stampalia, Venice (Manoscritti 944,
CL VIII, Cod.I)
1 5. C arlo Crivelli, A nnunciazione, 1482; Stadlisches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main
1 6. A nonymous, T e Tournament of Belvedere of 1565, oil painting; Museo di Roma,
Rome
1 7. G alleria degli Stucchi, built c.1 548 by Cardinal Gerolamo Capodiferro in the Palazzo
Capodiferro (later Palazzo Spada); Palazzo Spada, Rome
1 8. T apestry Joost van Herzeele, Brussels, 1580s, woven in wool and silk; Victoria and
Albert Museum, London (129–1869)
1 9. S ala delle Dame by Moretto da Brescia, fresco, 1543; Palazzo Martinengo-Salvadego,
Brescia (photo Rapuzzi)
2 0. T e Well Laid Table, in the style of Caravaggio, c . 1620; Galleria Colonna, Rome
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/05/2013, SPi
L ist of Plates ix
2 1. C hristian Berentz, P reparations for a Banquet, late seventeenth–early eighteenth century;
Galleria Corsini, Rome (inv. 142)
2 2. B artolomeo Veneto, P ortrait of a Man, c. 1525–30, oil painting; Museum T yssen-
Bornemisza, Madrid, Photo Scala.
2 3. A rtemisia Gentileschi and Assistants, B athsheba; Matthiesen Gallery, London