User:Piglover19/Maria Salviati

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Cosimo married Eleonora di Toledo in 1539. It was rumored that Eleonora refused to tolerate Bia's presence in the palace after their marriage so Cosimo sent Bia off to live with Maria. Other sources say that Eleonora brought Bia up very lovingly. Bia shared a nursery with Giulia de' Medici an illegitimate, multiracial daughter of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, the pair being close in age. Maria knew who Bia's mother was but she would never tell Bia or anyone else the name of the woman. Both Bia and her cousin Giulia contracted a virulent fever; Giulia recovered from the illness but Bia only worsened and eventually died on 1 March 1542 aged only five years. Maria and Cosimo were said to be very sad by her loss.[citation needed]

'''In the portrait called "Maria Salviati with Giulia de' Medici", there are many theories on who the portrait portrays. However, the almost universally accepted portrait is the one depicted by Pontormo in 1543-1544. (#2 bibliography) The different theories arise from the overpainting of the portrait as well as the views of different sellers. At the end of the nineteenth century, the work was attributed to Piombo where the portrait looked different by the child being taken out and the single women identified as being Vittoria Colonna(#2 bibliography). In 1937, the overpaint done by Piombo was removed, revealing the child where Edward S. King (1940) believed the child to be a boy publishing it as the work of Maria Salviati and Her Son Cosimo. (#2 bibliography) Others came forward disagreeing with the sex of the child based on the King's argument. It was not until 1992, where Gabrielle Langdon proposed the painting of the child to not only be a girl, but Giulia de' Medici. He was able to discover this based on the different attributes the painting held. He pointed out that the child was under the age of 7, the connection between the bare throat of Maria's and the child is strong showing femininity, as well as being shown as vulnerable under the protection of Maria Salviati. (#2 bibliography)'''

Influence on Medicine
'''Maria Salviati's had an influence on medicine that is not as pronounced in the art of medicine. Her influence with medicine is expressed in daily care routine and critical decision making which brought her into contact with many different professionals of medicine. (forgotten healer). The beginning of her interaction with medicine took place in the 1530-1540's as a household healer. Her familiarities arose in remedies and health regimens which left impacts on pharmacy, pediatric, and local healing networks (forgotten healer). It was believed that Maria Salviati, with her social standing, had access to information that promoted health literacy such as manuscripts. Most of them being handwritten recipe books that provided a basis for medical authority for women in order to navigate problems and pharmaceutical practices (medical authority ) One of the more significant recipe books believed to be in Salviati's hand was an Italian recipe book compiled by Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), her mother-in-law. (cite forgotten healer). Part of the book contained recipes for powers and pills to cure fever, elixirs to strengthen the body, and concoctions to help with infection. With this underlying knowledge of remedies, Salviati was able to experiment and develope a "secrete" remedy for intestinal worms which were found mostly in children (stirpe de medici). Maria Salviati's influence in medicine is most abundant with pediatrics. With her medical knowledge, she partook in overseeing practices with wet nursing, which was uncommon at the time, through the selection processes and observation for the Medici ducal couple offspring (forogtten healers). Over the years, she continued to oversee the Medici children with their health statuses mainly through humoral reasoning and influences of celestial bodies.'''

The Death of Maria Salviati
'''Syphilis became a prominent disease around the Renaissance time. One of the tertiary stages effects that syphilis has on the body is effects the the skeleton. Maria Salviati's skeletal remains showed skeletal lesions, corresponding to effects syphilis has in the third stage of the infection. (CDC citation). In the 1540, Maria started to decline in health where the court physician, Andrea Pasquali, included symptoms such as recurring proctorrhagias, headaches, and rectal and perianal ulcers. (CDC). It further back of the evidence of Maria's effect with syphilis, scientists and archeologist exhumed her skeletal remains and performed studies. Studies showed that Maria had lytic brain lesions in her skull which strongly suggest tertiary syphilis. (CDC)'''