Artisans of the Body in Early Modern Italy: Identities, Families and Masculinities

Description

This study of barbers-surgeons and other artisans involved in the care and appearance of the body - jewellers, tailors, wigmakers, upholsterers - sheds light on the strong sociocultural affinities that existed in the Early Modern period between these apparently unrelated trades, challenging the divide between medical and non-medical occupations. -- .

Sandra Cavallo is Professor of Early Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London -- .

"Cavallo has written a fresh and inventive book that recasts our understanding of surgeons and much of medical practice in the early modern period." - Mary E. Fissell, "Economic History Review" "The book is a meticulous study . . . and has the merit of interweaving several lines of inquiry into one coherent picture." - Guido Giglioni, "Reviews in History" "This vivid and extremely readable study offers an important model with which future explorations of medical practitioners and of early modern constructions of gender, identity, family, and kinship will have to engage." - Silvia De Renzi, "Renaissance Studies" "This is an important book that fundamentally recasts our ideas about early modern artisanal life and the relative importance of the various medical practicioners of the time. It is deeply researched and well argued." - Anita Guerrini, Oregon State University, "Technology and Culture Review"