Erbario (Herbal)

Erbario (Herbal)

Illustrated herbals were in the Middle Ages linked to chains of exempla, diminishing the fidelity of their images to nature. Its 192 illustrations testify to the gradual shift away from an earlier, conventional representational system, toward a more naturalistic style that came to predominate by the century’s end. The first group of specimen images from the first half of the fifteenth century are often visually unrecognizable. The roots, for example, are given special prominence, sometimes incorporating fantastical anthropomorphic creatures, as in the drawings of a female mandragora or a blue-faced woad plant. The commentary text, present for about a quarter of the plants, describes preparations and predicted medicinal properties. Most of the medicinal notes are in Italian, though some are in Latin and a few mix the two languages.

15th c.

Manuscript on paper, 100 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 419

Veneto (?), Italy