EXHIBITS

            When our group started analyzing the Paradisi and the Discorsi, we were able to learn a tremendous deal about the nature of herbals in the Renaissance. Additionally, we discovered more about the broader historical contexts surrounding these books.

            Herbals were tremendously important to the Renaissance. Combining cutting-edge knowledge of science with artistic mastery, these volumes detailed some of the most important aspects of Renaissance society.

            By looking to examples of biological and economic exchange with Europe, the Paradisi and the Discorsi teach that Renaissance society was much more globalized than one might expect. Additionally, with the original Discorsi being published in Venice in 1568, and the Paradisi published in London in 1629, an audience can understand that herbals were not simply a fad or trend, but rather an important tool used by professionals. To this end, the knowledge of each new herbal would compound onto the knowledge of earlier works.

            Working with a facsimile, as well as an authentic herbal from 1629, allowed our group to learn to recognize the importance of a book’s materiality. This materiality was demonstrated in numerous ways: the book’s condition, including damage; its bindings; presence or lack of marginalia; paper type; as well as the other methods covered within this exhibit. By using a reproduction, our group was able to get past our initial anxieties of studying artifacts.

            Studying a text in our native language of English, in addition to a book in unfamiliar Italian, forced our to look at our project with alternative methodologies. Instead of being granted the luxury of studying one native-language text in excruciating detail, as our peers in History of Renaissance Europe were, we instead looked for linguistic continuities between Italian and English. These included names and dates. We also searched for continuities with other Romance languages, especially French and Spanish, to understand basic grammatical structures. By utilizing both Italian and English texts, our project was given the direction of understanding changes across both times and cultures.

            Over the course of comparing these two objects, our group learned a tremendous amount more than we originally sought out. In terms of recollecting factual knowledge, we learned about the importance of herbals in Renaissance society, the development of medical knowledge, and the Columbian Exchange. Our research skills were vastly expanded, as we learned how to evaluate foreign-language texts, analyze materiality, and scrutinize illustrations. If we were to undertake additional research on this topic, we would be particularly interested in looking further into notions of cultural superiority, as they might appear in either of these books.