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Home » @theMediciArchiveProject

@theMediciArchiveProject

The last of our 2026 MAP fellows is Caitlin Petty, The last of our 2026 MAP fellows is Caitlin Petty, a PhD Candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, who is researching the work of Lodovico Cigoli in Florence during at the turn of the seventeenth century.

We hope you've enjoyed meeting our fellows and learning about their projects over the last months, and we look forward to introducing the next cohort in the coming year!

#fellowships #phd #phdcandidate #phdstudent #research #history #arthistory # #renaissance #earlymodern #italy #italia #florence #firenze #archive #archivalresearch #research #wax #science #historyofscience #medicine #religion
Looking for something interesting to do this summe Looking for something interesting to do this summer? One option is to take a trip to London to attend the theatre. A common complaint, however, is the price—something that we share with our predecessors of centuries past. In February 1610, Ottaviano di Lotto, the Florentine ambassador to London, wrote home with one such complaint: "Yesterday the Venetian ambassadors, wanting to see a public comedy with their [accompanying] gentlemen," but "had to pay just like everyone else. They spent 12 scudi." Whether this price was exceptionally over the top or if it was a simple matter of principle remains to be seen, but surely it's comparable to the shocking prices we see nowadays!

ASF, Mediceo del Principato 4189, n.f.
MAP DocID: 13053
Transcribed by Nicholas Wilding
A nineteenth-century print depicting "the Inside of the Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields as it appeared in the reign of King Charles II."

#theatre #theater #play #comedy #drama #broadway #westend #london #history #historyoflondon #renaissance #earlymodern #ambassador #florence #firenze #italy #italia #summer #summerplans #vacation #holiday
Cristofano Bronzini’s manuscript treatise, ON THE Cristofano Bronzini’s manuscript treatise, ON THE DIGNITY AND NOBILITY OF WOMEN, contains two timbri di proprietà, or ownership stamps, that provide information about the work’s provenance. The first is an oval with the text BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE CENTRALE FIRENZE (BNCF) on the banners and outer border, and MSS in the middle (slide 1). The BNCF received the designation “Nazionale Centrale” from the Italian government—a constitutional monarchy under the House of Savoy. The crown on this stamp can be found in other timbri used by the BNCF from c.1861-1940 and likely refers to the Savoy family crest. 

The second stamp, also oval, features a cross standing on a mound of smaller half-ovals at its center. This symbol, which refers to the Theatine Order, is encircled by the text FLOREN. BIBLIOTECH. S. MICHEL. C.R., indicating the order’s Florentine location: the Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano, on Via de' Tornabuoni in Florence. The Theatines, established in 1524, were formally known as Chierici Regolari Teatine (hence the C.R. in the stamp). The Medici family patronized Santi Michele e Gaetano throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is uncertain when Bronzini’s manuscript entered the convent’s library; however, it is notable that Bronzini served as the master of ceremonies for the church’s most illustrious patron, Cardinal Carlo de’Medici, who was known for his patronage of the court singer and composer Francesca Caccini (about whom Bronzini writes extensively in his treatise). 

Other labels inside the manuscript likewise reflect its provenance. Slide (x) shows a label that designates the manuscript as part of the holdings acquired by the BNCF from the Magliabechiana collection. Additionally, a stamp and a note on the inside cover of the rebound manuscript refer to “Ciabani Gino Legatore di Libri,” a professional Florentine bookbinder responsible for the early-twentieth-century rebinding of Bronzini’s work. It is likely that the two timbri di proprietà were added during this rebinding.

#history #arthistory #women #womenshistory #renaissance #earlymodern #bronzini #cristofanobronzini #digitization #digitalhumanities #humanities
On the feast day of St. John the Baptist—which is On the feast day of St. John the Baptist—which is celebrated today, 24 June—the various communities subject to Florentine rule would traditionally offer gifts to the Duke of Florence. In 1534, Alessandro de' Medici had a letter penned thanking the various donors, which included a list of their gifts. What, then, was a reasonable offering to make?

Apparently the best option—chosen by Pisa, Pietrasanta, Prato, Poppi, Barga, the Casentino, Fiuizano, Pistoia, Bibbiena, and Fucecchio—was fish, with trout being the preferred variety. San Gimignano instead offered Vernaccia, a local white wine, while Volterra went for veal. It seems that Alessandro would be eating seafood for the foreseeble future!

Buon San Giovanni!

ASF, Mediceo del Principato 181, f. 283r
MAP DocID: 15552
Transcribed by Anatole Tchikine
Big Fish Eat Little Fish, after a drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, engraved by Pieter van der Heyden and published by Hieronymus Cock, 1557. Met Museum

#fish #pesce #trout #sangiovanni #festadisangiovanni #gift #giftgiving #seafood #fruttidimare #sea #ocean #mediterranean #feastofstjohnthebaptist #johnthebaptist #sangiovannibattista #tuscany #toscana #Pisa #Pietrasanta #Prato, #Poppi #Barga #Casentino #Pistoia #Bibbiena #Fucecchio
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