The Curle of the Great Lady

This sheet, which has been dated by Franceso Solinas to circa 1621-23, appears to be one of an extensive series of botanical illustrations prepared by Cesi and his associates as part of a projected illustrated botanical encyclopaedia. This was assembled under the auspices of the Accademia dei Lincei, the innovative scientific institution of which Galileo was a member, and which Cesi had founded in 1603. Known as the Erbario Miniato, the sheets were bound in several volumes, one of which is at the Royal Library, Windsor. Cesi died in 1630, after which the Accademia virtually collapsed under the pressure of the Inquisition's investigations into Galileo's heretical theories. Cassiano Dal Pozzo, who had joined the Accademia in 1623, bought Cesi's illustrated books from his widow in 1633, and added them to his private library, perhaps using them for his famous Museo Cartaceo, an encyclopaedia broader in scope than Cesi's embracing all of the Natural World together with that of Antiquity.
The inscription on the present sheet records that the plant was found in 1620 in the garden of Pelegrino Pelegrini of Perugia, a renowned herbalist. The dimensions and colour are noted, together with the comment that 'it is not often seen, and written about by no-one. Many professors have said that it is a monster, or rather an accident of Nature.' This appears to be by a contemporary hand, possibly that of Giovan Battista Winther, a Swiss doctor in Cesi's circle, which would explain the several mistakes in grammar and spelling.
We are grateful to Francesco Solinas for his kind help in preparing this note.