Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Savich or Wheat Soup
  • 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. He considers wheat soup good for humid intestines. 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 kneeling and stirring a pot of soup boiling in the fireplace, while another woman stands behind her, holding two soup spoons and a bowl.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Cookery Medical Manuscripts Work
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century:
  • Date: 1390- 1400 (?)
  • Related Work: Tacuinum sanitatis, a medical treatise. Also known as the Theatrum sanitatis.
  • Current Location: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS series nova 2644, fol. 43v
  • 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.