The Tacuinum Sanitatis is a richly illustrated guide to health. Made in Padua in the 1450s, it contains 130 miniatures illustrating substances and activities conducive to health and happiness, ranging from food and drink to singing, sleep and sex. Its scribe and artists enjoyed the patronage of a circle of humanists who flourished in the Veneto in the 1450s and 1460s, including the Venetian governor of Padua, Jacopo Antonio Marcello, and his great friend King Rene of Anjou. A window into the everyday lives of affluent Italians in the fifteenth century, the Tacuinum Sanitatis brings to life the fascinating domestic arena of the early Renaissance.
