Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Coitus
  • Creator: Workshop of Giovannino de Grassi, painter
  • Description: The "Tacuinum sanitatis" was an eleventh-century health handbook written by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. In it he presents the elements needed for a healthful and happy life. In the fourteenth-century illustrated versions the emphasis is on picturing attractive scenes drawing on themes from courtly love, fashionable dress, and estate management for an idealized view of agriculture, food production, and healthy living. The picture depicts a man and a woman lying in a richly appointed bed, engaging in sex.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Bedrooms Domestic Space Medical Manuscripts Nude Sexuality
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 14
  • Date: ca. late 1390s
  • Related Work: Tacuinum sanitatis, a medical treatise. Also known as the Theatrum sanitatis. The manuscript is fully digitized on the Biblioteca Casanatense site.
  • Current Location: Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 4182, fol. 196
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Manuscript Illuminations
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Vellum (parchment); Paint
  • Donor: Layman; Probably commissioned by Giangaleazzo Visconti, Count of Milan, or nobility at his court.
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): //
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Cathleen Hoeniger, "The Illuminated Tacuinum sanitatis Manuscripts from Northern Italy ca. 1380-1400: Sources, Patrons, and the Creation of a New Pictorial Genre." Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, and Alain Touwaide. Ashgate,2006. Pp. 51-81.