by Martina Pugliesi
Also known as Tacuinum Sanitatis, the Historia Plantarum, Ms 459 of the Casanatense Library, is an encyclopedia of natural sciences containing descriptions of plants, animals and minerals with particular reference to their medical properties.
Preciously decorated, the codex was executed at the end of the 13th century. XIV at the court of Gian Galeazzo Visconti for Wenceslas IV king of Bohemia and Germany, to then land in the famousMatthias Corvinus’s library. It is assumed that it was acquired by Casanatense by 1733.
The over 500 illustrations of plants, animals and minerals are often accompanied by scenes depicting episodes of daily life; the miniature, from the Lombard area, is partly attributable to Giovannino and Salomone de’ Grassi.