Quickly, the convent’s preparations met with real success among the aristocracy, and perfumed products became the preserve of the Italian nobility. And Ren\u00e9 le Florentin, in all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renato Bianco and Catherine de M\u00e9dicis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/masterparfums.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/catherine-medicis-rene-florentin.jpeg\")
Copyright: Discovart<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nRenato Bianco, by his real name, was abandoned at birth and taken in and raised by the brothers of Santa Maria Novella. It was there that he learned to distil the convent’s herbs alongside the alchemist monks. A good part of the perfumer’s life remains enigmatic; it is above all for his association with Catherine de M\u00e9dicis that the name Ren\u00e9 le Florentin still resonates today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1533, the Italian Catherine de M\u00e9dicis, aged 14, was preparing to join her future husband and the future king of France Henri II. The Italian elites being fond of perfumed products at the time, Catherine de M\u00e9dicis’s social position naturally turned her towards perfume. She asked the monks of Santa Maria Novella to make her a special fragrance for her forthcoming wedding, but that is not all: as she was going to join the French capital, she demanded that Renato Bianco slip in among her entourage of pages, guards and ladies-in-waiting so that he could continue to supply her with perfumed beauty products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they arrived in Paris, Bianco and the future queen witnessed a curious paradox there: while in the Renaissance everyone was outwardly extremely dressed up, hygiene was far from keeping up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfume in the Renaissance, or the “Reign of Perfumed Filth<\/a>“<\/h2>\n\n\n\nOn one hand, extreme coquetry was the order of the day. People made use of mirrors, combs, make-up boxes and pomanders made of precious materials. Pomanders were spherical pendants enclosing various odorous substances. In addition to fighting bad smells, they were seen as amulets with the power to protect against illness. Doctors, moreover, considered that odorous materials could cure certain ailments. Besides the pomander, new scent objects flourished, such as the oiselets de Chypre (Cyprus birds\u2014perfumed paste moulded into the shape of a bird) that one threw into the fire and that perfumed and purified the ambient air: rose water, labdanum, civet musk, ambergris, storax, benzoin, cinnamon, clove\u2026 so many new odorous materials brought back from Asia by the great explorers of the era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, water frightened people<\/a>: it was thought to be a vector of illness and contagion. In the 16th century, baths, by opening the pores, were believed to let miasmas into the body. For a real deep wash, the term “se d\u00e9crasser” (to scrub off the grime) was used. Doctors advocated dry washing, which consisted of rubbing the body with aromatic substances, lotions or vinegars, powdering oneself and dressing in perfumed linen. The word “toilette,” moreover, comes from that little piece of cloth (toile) that was soaked in these vinegars.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite everything, the enthusiasm for Greco-Latin Antiquity that characterises the Renaissance, combined with the invention of printing<\/a>, prepared fertile ground for the dissemination of works containing recipes for odorous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn Italian Master in Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Renato Bianco, by his real name, was abandoned at birth and taken in and raised by the brothers of Santa Maria Novella. It was there that he learned to distil the convent’s herbs alongside the alchemist monks. A good part of the perfumer’s life remains enigmatic; it is above all for his association with Catherine de M\u00e9dicis that the name Ren\u00e9 le Florentin still resonates today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1533, the Italian Catherine de M\u00e9dicis, aged 14, was preparing to join her future husband and the future king of France Henri II. The Italian elites being fond of perfumed products at the time, Catherine de M\u00e9dicis’s social position naturally turned her towards perfume. She asked the monks of Santa Maria Novella to make her a special fragrance for her forthcoming wedding, but that is not all: as she was going to join the French capital, she demanded that Renato Bianco slip in among her entourage of pages, guards and ladies-in-waiting so that he could continue to supply her with perfumed beauty products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they arrived in Paris, Bianco and the future queen witnessed a curious paradox there: while in the Renaissance everyone was outwardly extremely dressed up, hygiene was far from keeping up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfume in the Renaissance, or the “Reign of Perfumed Filth<\/a>“<\/h2>\n\n\n\nOn one hand, extreme coquetry was the order of the day. People made use of mirrors, combs, make-up boxes and pomanders made of precious materials. Pomanders were spherical pendants enclosing various odorous substances. In addition to fighting bad smells, they were seen as amulets with the power to protect against illness. Doctors, moreover, considered that odorous materials could cure certain ailments. Besides the pomander, new scent objects flourished, such as the oiselets de Chypre (Cyprus birds\u2014perfumed paste moulded into the shape of a bird) that one threw into the fire and that perfumed and purified the ambient air: rose water, labdanum, civet musk, ambergris, storax, benzoin, cinnamon, clove\u2026 so many new odorous materials brought back from Asia by the great explorers of the era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, water frightened people<\/a>: it was thought to be a vector of illness and contagion. In the 16th century, baths, by opening the pores, were believed to let miasmas into the body. For a real deep wash, the term “se d\u00e9crasser” (to scrub off the grime) was used. Doctors advocated dry washing, which consisted of rubbing the body with aromatic substances, lotions or vinegars, powdering oneself and dressing in perfumed linen. The word “toilette,” moreover, comes from that little piece of cloth (toile) that was soaked in these vinegars.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite everything, the enthusiasm for Greco-Latin Antiquity that characterises the Renaissance, combined with the invention of printing<\/a>, prepared fertile ground for the dissemination of works containing recipes for odorous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn Italian Master in Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Despite everything, the enthusiasm for Greco-Latin Antiquity that characterises the Renaissance, combined with the invention of printing<\/a>, prepared fertile ground for the dissemination of works containing recipes for odorous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn Italian Master in Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n