Galileo Museum of Florence makes the Mexican treasure available to the public

Florence After three years of work, the database of the Mexican Treasuryone of the most extraordinary scientific compendiums of the seventeenth century, can already be consulted online through the website of the Galileo Museum of Florence (https://teche.museogalile.it/tesoro), institution responsible for its development. Published in 1651 by the Accademia Dei Lincei (Academy of Linces) in Rome, this monumental volume gathers knowledge about the flora, fauna and minerals of New Spain, the result of the expedition financed by Felipe II of Spain and entrusted to the protomanic Francisco Hernández between 1570 and 1576.

Although Hernández’s original work was lost in a fire, his memory has survived thanks to the synthesis made by the Italian Nardo Antonio Rechi, published after infinite vicissitudes by the accident of the lynx, the first Italian scientific institution founded by Federico Cesi in 1603, whose prestige lasts until today.

The new database is the result of an initiative led by Michele Camerota, professor of History of Science at the University of Cagliari, in Sardinia, and one of the greatest experts in Galileo Galilei, with the collaboration of Alessandro Ottaviani and Marta Stefani.

In an interview with The dayMarta Stefani and Valentina Vignieri, collaborator of the initiative (included in the projects of relevant national interest in 2017), talk about the long path of the creation of the database and the importance of this resource for international scientific research.

– Why the Mexican Treasury Does such an ambitious project deserve?

– thanks to his extraordinary corpus illustrated and the contribution of the commentators Lincei – members of the Academy of Lins – in the reorganization of knowledge and in the naturalistic theories of the time, this work is erected as a key to access to the history of the Accademia dei Linceiof which Galileo Galilei was part. This intellectual circle strongly promoted the idea of ​​public, useful and shared knowledge, fundamental principles of its scientific vision.

Synoptic vision

– What is the objective of the project?

– Make the most accessible work, highlighting the relationship with the scientific literature of the time, the therapeutic properties of the described plants and the use of color as a narrative resource, which became necessary due to the limitation of the iconographic apparatus, which is only present in black and white. This synoptic vision, which integrates comment and image, helps to clarify the attribution of some illustrations, the chronology of parts of the work and editorial decisions, thus contributing to reconstruct the complex history of its publication.

– Who is directed?

– Principally to researchers with knowledge of Latin, the system offers integrated access to the Linca annotation, linking the illustrations with the comments scattered in the text to facilitate their reading and analysis. In addition, it allows establishing connections between plants, sources, people, bibliography and biographies. However, also fans and curious can explore it through the function Leaf through (Browse), which allows you to travel its pages intuitively. For this purpose, the copy of the Central National Library of Florence was digitized, selected for its excellent state of conservation.

– Is the database with artificial intelligence programs compatible, such as Claude, to independently translate the Latin text into other languages?

– Potentially yes, but for now we have not explored this possibility.

– How has it developed?

–In the present, the project focuses solely on the Botanical Section (books II-VIII), the most extensive, with more than 800 images of a total of almost 900, accompanied by comments by Johann Schreck (1576-1630) and Fabio Colonna (1567-1640). The future objective is to expand the work with sections dedicated to animals, commented by Johannes Faber, and minerals, studied by Schreck.

– Did Hernández’s work be completely lost in Escorial’s fire?

–No, a copy of Hernández’s handwritten memories was saved that gave rise to the national edition of the 18th century (https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/idurl/1/12068). In addition, a synthesis of the materials preserved in El Escorial before the fire was performed by the Lynching Cassiano del Pozzo and constitutes the Free sole that is found in the final edition of the Mexican Treasury.

– How did Schreck and Colonna’s comments contribute to make Botany an autonomous science?

– Colonna’s comments on New Spain’s plants, in particular, were not limited to a precise description of unknown species, but to a reflection and definition of the essential characteristics useful for classification. From his comments a clear claim of an autonomous statute for botanical science, no longer assist of medicine. Thanks to innovative instruments such as microscopes and telescopes, the Tesoro It became a global inventory, based on detailed observations and modern scientific methods. This approach, combined with the attention given to medicinal properties, marked a significant moment towards a new vision of science, focused on collective knowledge of knowledge.

– Why are the images of the book in black and white?

–Rechi ordered to make copies in color of the images of Hernández’s work, which took Naples and bequeathed his nephew, Marco Antonio Petilio. After moving to Rome, Petilio welcomed the Lincei, who copied the black and white images for economic and practical reasons. Cesi hired a group of painters, including Isabella Parasole, to reproduce the images. However, since they could not work for months in a private house, the painters concentrated in the shapes, omitting the colors. From these drawings xylographs were created, cheaper than copper engravings. Some of the Lincei had sporadic access to the house of Petilius, where they wrote down the original colors, incorporating them into their comments. These annotations, rich in details, intend to compensate for the lack of color in the images. Due to the scientific importance of your comments, the Mexican Treasury It remained cited and used by the European scientific community far beyond the end of the 18th century.