Giovanni Marinello, Gallant Physician of the Late XVI Century

Abstract

The works of Giovanni Marinello on women's diseases and cosmetics offer two main benefits: on the one hand we get traditional medical notions about female physiology and pathology presented in comprehensible way throught the use of vernacular and the unpretentious style, while on the other hand they give precious information on aspects of everyday life. Problems connected with health and illnerss like appearance of the body or pain and the strateegies to eliminate them occupy a big part of these practical treatise, in which we find not only prescriptions but also odiscoursive parts. Reflections about esthetical canons and ideals, about the relationship between nature and art or technology and the human duty to enter in competition with natural laws are some of the topics discussed. The analysis of Marinello's text pousses on the content but also on the form to present them to a mostly feminine audience of readers. ...