Contents Introduction 7 Personal Hygiene and Bathrooms 13 Personal hygiene 13 Flea remedies 16 The private bathrooms and bathroom areas 18 in Medici residences The end of bathing routines and the dry toilette 33 of the 17th century Thermal Baths 36 The Perfumery 41 Animal and vegetal fragrances and the Grand Dukes 41 passion for botany Baroque adoration of perfume at the courts of 48 Ferdinando ii and Cosimo iii The Medicean Apothecary Laboratories: the Casino 53 di San Marco and the Real Fonderia Precious containers and their scented contents 60 Plague remedies 67 Aromatic fumes from perfume burners 73 Fabrics and little cushions filled with scented powders 78 Buccheri 81 Scented Cosmetics and Make-up 85 Scented beauty waters 86 Make-up 92 Hairstyles and hair care 93 Cyperus powder 101 Wigs 104 Manuscripts 106 Fig. 1 Essential Bibliography 108 The Medici Family Tree 111
I ntroduction Fig. 2 Many illustrious scholars before me have already dealt with the history of the prestigious Medici family from political, economic and artistic points of view, but here I wanted to put forward a different approach with the intention of penetrating the daily sphere of the family and bringing to light the less familiar and more intriguing aspects. Penetrating scents exuding from gold and silver perfume burners, white and coloured cyperus powders to enhance and perfume the body, taffeta cushions filled with dried flowers and scented powders, jewels and rosaries made in sandal and aloe wood, iced jasmine drinks, houses in a continual haze of fragrances throughout the year and bathrooms in grottos; all these just give us a small hint of what went on during this era, when the senses of taste, sight and smell came together and each one complemented the other. It is the world of hygiene, perfumery and cosmetics which for me, has been gratifying to reveal through the refined court of Medicean Florence. The exploration starts around the time of Grand Duke Cosimo i (1569 1574) and continues right up to the first half of the 18th century, when the death of Gian Gastone (1737) denoted the end of the Medici dynasty. It actually begins with research on more personal habits, namely hygienic practices and cosmetics at court, and we ll discover which substances and recipes were in widespread use linking them with the most commonly used toilette items and objects. 7
It has been my intention not just to disclose forgotten social habits and practices but also to embark on a voyage inside a world of penetrating fragrances, ointments, scented powders and make-up with the help of recipes written and experimented with behind the closed doors of Medicean pharmaceutical laboratories, or to use a more fitting term, Medicean apothecary laboratories. Furthermore, this was a pre-modern era in which science, magic, pharmaceutics, perfumery and cosmetics all merged into one so an infinite number of recipes were produced; some are so complicated that they are incomprehensible, some are so strange that they make us laugh out loud and others are so simple and practical that they are still used today. Contrary to common beliefs, hygiene, perfumery and cosmetics, although strictly linked to futile fashion requirements, have contributed in their own way to weaving an intricate cultural fabric of an era and thus they have provided the most direct evidence available. Perfumes and make-up constituted a major part of life in society at court in the past (only the people at court could afford them), after all, the practices linked to vanity had fallen into oblivion following the barbaric invasions and been abandoned by the ensuing classic culture. It was only after the Crusaders return from the Orient and the arrival of the chivalrous age which brought perfumes and bathing habits back into fashion. In fact, at the end of the 13th century the stimulus of sensuality prevailed and the art of cosmetics initially reappeared as a purely feminine habit (Di Monaco 1997, p. 45). The golden age of cosmetics and perfumery came during the 15th and 16th centuries when the first printed treatises about medicine in general and official pharmacopoeia started to appear. These treatises publicised the art of perfumery and the art of cosmetics on an international level. Furthermore a whole series of little printed books or manuscripts called ricettari galanti (pharmaceutical recipe books) or books of secrets appeared; they circulated collections of concoctions and recipes about the art of adornment where science, magic and superstition were indistinguishably blended together. The undisputed manuals which distributed beauty advice at the time were the Esperimenta (1492 1509) by Caterina Sforza, the mother of Giovanni de Medici, known as Giovanni of the Black Bands, and Secreti (Venice 1561) by Isabella Cortese (Riva 1997, p. 78). Florence and Venice were the most renowned centres for the arts of cosmetics and perfumery. The fashionable Florentine milieu was also often singled out by cultured people at the time seeing as women covered themselves in perfumes, painted their faces to the extent that its natural contours were no longer distinguishable and surrounded themselves with a multitude of apothecaries and gardeners continually engaged in the search for new roots and herbs. A fundamental manuscript which featured in Florentine ladies daily life in the 16th century was certainly the Dialogo della Perfetta Bellezza di Una donna (Discourse About the Perfect Beauty of A Woman) from around 1525 by Agnolo Firenzuola (Florence 1493 Prato 1543). This discourse is addressed to a circle of young noblewomen and theorises about the best beauty precepts of the time taking the whole human body from head to toe into consideration. Hair had to be long and blond with burnished gold highlights (this could be obtained artificially, the Venetians were particularly adept at dying hair at the time), skin had to be as light as ivory and eyebrows had to be the colour of ebony, thick in the middle and thin at the edges. Eyelashes could neither be too long nor too thick and dark, eyes had to be big and cheeks had to be pink, the mouth had to be small with coralline lips which were neither too thin nor too fat. Teeth had to be small, even, regular and as white as ivory and gums had to be red like satin, the neck had to be long and white and the chest rosy, ample and light without any bones visible and lastly the hands had to be as white and soft as cotton wool. The writer admitted that nature had not blessed many women with the beauty about which he theorised and he accepted that many women had to work hard with artistry, diligence and talent in order to become beautiful, but at the 8 At the Medici Court introduction 9
11 13 9 12 Pl. 9 - B. Bimbi, Vase of Carnations, Florence, Palazzo Pitti Pl. 10 - J. Brueghel dei Velluti, Vase of flowers with irises, Florence, Poggio Imperiale Medicean Villa 10 Pl. 11 Montelupo manufacture, Pharmacy Jar, Florence, Uffizi Pl. 12 - B. Bimbi, Cedar from the Chiavistelli garden at Varlungo, Florence, Università degli Studi Natural History Museum, Botanical Section Pl. 13 - A. Tempesti, Grotesque with an Apothecary s Shop, Florence, Uffizi Pl. 14 - Anonymous, Don Antonio de Medici, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina 14
19 22 24 Pl. 19 - A. Fei, Goldsmith s Workshop (detail), Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Francesco i s Study Pl. 20-16th-century Dutch manufacture, Pearl Flask, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti Pl. 21 - Late 17th-century German manufacture, Muleteer perfume holder, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti 23 25 Pl. 22 - Late 17th-century German manufacture, Box for perfumes, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti Pl. 23 - G. Stanchi, Vase with a bunch of roses, Florence, Palazzo Pitti Pl. 24 - C. Munari, Fruit, musical instruments and crockery (detail), Florence, Palazzo Pitti Pl. 25 - Mexican manufacture (?), Vase, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti 20 21