The Recipe Collection of the Last Medici Princess
By Ashley Buchanan Two summers ago in the state archive of Florence I discovered, filed under the heading of “miscellaneous Medici,” a simple sleeve which held a collection of over 200 recipes that...
View ArticleSecrets of the Medici Granducal Pharmacy
By Ashley Buchanan The last line of a recipe for a nerve ointment within Anna Maria Luisa’s (1667 – 1743) collection of culinary, alchemical, and medicinal recipes reads: “this being a balm, and...
View ArticleWhen Physicians Give Up: Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici’s Infant Convulsion Powder
By Ashley Buchanan On July 19, 1736, Baroness Massimilianna Moltke wrote Anna Maria Luisa, the Electress Palatine and last Medici princess, to thank her for sending a “miraculous powder” to treat...
View ArticleTesting Drugs and Trying Cures Workshop Summary
By Ashley Buchanan and Tillman Taape What did it mean to test a drug or try a cure in the early modern world? This was the central question for a group of scholars who gathered for a workshop at Max...
View ArticleThe Politics of Chocolate: Cosimo III’s Secret Jasmine Chocolate Recipe
By Ashley Buchanan By 1708 the Medici grand ducal “spezieria,” or pharmacy, had grown into a complex of eleven rooms located in the main ducal residence, the Palazzo Pitti. It included a medical...
View ArticleDyeing to Be Cured
By Ashley Buchanan Slipped within Anna Maria Luisa’s recipe collection is a small bound pamphlet that instructs the user how to tint or dye white marble various colors. In just sixteen pages, the...
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