Artisans of the Body in Early Modern Italy

Download or read book Artisans of the Body in Early Modern Italy written by Sandra Cavallo and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking study explores the role of those involved in various aspects of the care, comfort, and appearance of the body in 17th and early 18th century Italy. It brings to light the strong cultural affinities and social ties between barber, surgeons, and the apparently distant trades of jeweler, tailor, wigmaker, and upholsterer. Drawing on contemporary understandings of the body, the author shows that shared concerns about health and wellbeing permeated the professional cultures of these medical and non-medical occupations. At the same time, the detailed analysis of the life-course, career patterns, and family experience of "artisans of the body" offers unprecedented insight into the world of the urban middling sorts.