Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Lettuce
  • Creator:
  • 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. He considers lettuce leaves to be helpful in relieving insomnia. 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. This picture depicts a woman holding lettuce leaves that she has just gathered from a garden.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Agriculture Medical Manuscripts Work
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Date: ca. 1450s
  • Related Work: Tacuinum sanitatis, a medical treatise. Also known as the Theatrum sanitatis.
  • Current Location: Rouen, Bibliothque municipale, MS Leber 1088 and formerly, Liechtenstein, fol. 10
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Manuscript Illuminations
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Vellum (parchment); Paint
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): //
  • Inscription:
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