https://dev.jessicaotis.com/2023/03/26/the-courtiers-anatomists-book-review/ HIST 615/635 Spring 2023 Wed, 29 Mar 2023 01:35:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://dev.jessicaotis.com/2023/03/26/the-courtiers-anatomists-book-review/#comment-53 Wed, 29 Mar 2023 01:35:09 +0000 https://dev.jessicaotis.com/?p=596#comment-53 Guerrini has woven a complex tapestry from the multiple cultural strands that made up a small, but important, part of Parisian culture during Louis XIV’s reign. The glories of Renaissance art and architecture were not so far in the past. Central Paris had been physically transformed. Humanism continued to chip away at the bastions of scholastic certainty. Galenic medicine was challenged by both chemical medicine and a more mechanical view of the body. Reformation, exploration, and trade was transforming great power relations in Europe. Printed materials brought new ideas. The old regime was faced with new challenges.
Louis responded by building his own machine at Versailles to break the power of the nobles, by using the symbolism of wild beasts to convey strength, and by using patronage networks to burnish his image.
With this world as a stage and a few talented natural historians and surgeons as protagonists, Guerrini weaves her tale. She shows how humanism, the new mechanical philosophy, the Republic of Letters, scholasticism, power politics, and chance interact to create entertainment, conflict, and knowledge.
Our reviewers this week have done a good job of summarizing Guerrini’s complex story.

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