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  • Conflicting Duties: Science, Medicine and Religion in Rome, 1550-1750
  • Marco Bresadola
Maria Pia Donato and Jill Kraye, eds. Conflicting Duties: Science, Medicine and Religion in Rome, 1550-1750. Warburg Institute Colloquia 15. Warburg Institute Studies and Texts. London: Warburg Institute, 2009. xiv + 389 pp. Ill. £50.00 (978-0-85481-149-6).

The key question addressed by this volume, which originated in a conference held at the Warburg Institute in October 2003, is the following: "[G]iven that a variety of activities related to science took place in Rome, was there something specific about the scientific culture there which distinguished it from other contexts?" (p. 5). Instead of taking a comparative approach to answer this question, the articles collected in the volume focus on specific cases, institutions, or individuals, in order to reconstruct the fine texture of early modern Roman scientific culture. It is clear that the contributors agree on giving an affirmative answer to that question, even though they stress different aspects of the Roman specificity, such as the complexity of the courtly patronage, the peculiarities of the various religious orders, or the interconnection among science, art, and antiquarianism.

As one of the editors makes clear in her introduction, a study of scientific culture in early modern Rome cannot avoid accounting for the central role of the relationship between science and religion in a place that was, after all, the capital of the Catholic world. Of course, this is not an original point of view, but while traditional historiography has portrayed Rome as a stronghold of conservatism nurtured by a post-Tridentine papacy and repressive religious institutions, this [End Page 295] volume reveals that "in most cases advancements in science occurred because of religious interference, not in spite of it" (p. 6). The many courts of cardinals, aristocrats, and ambassadors that revolved around the Papal Curia, the several religious orders and institutions that formed a fundamental aspect of Roman society, and even the strong presence of ecclesiastical censorship were perceived as opportunities—and not only as constraints—by a large number of individuals, who were attracted to the Holy City in search of legitimacy and support for their scientific activities. This perspective, which stresses the richness and complexity of early modern Roman culture, has been developed by recent historiography, as is shown not only by the contributions to this volume but also by another important collective study published in 2008.1

The contributors to the present volume explore a wide range of topics: engineering, geography, and natural history in the second half of the sixteenth century (Pamela Long, Jean-Marc Besse, Laurent Pinon), architecture around 1680 (Pascal Dubourg Glatigny), academies such as the Accademia dei Lincei and the Academy of Maurice of Savoy (Sabina Brevaglieri, Federica Favino), mathematics and natural philosophy practiced by the different religious orders of Minims, Piarists, and Jesuits (Antonella Romano, Stefania Montacutelli, Paula Findlen), anatomy and medicine from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. These latter articles might be of particular interest to readers of BHM, who will find new perspectives on celebrated physicians like Giovanni Maria Lancisi or on well-studied subjects such as anatomy and the history of sanctity, as well as original contributions on less famous figures like Pietro Castelli or single institutions like the hospital of S. Spirito. For instance, the articles by Elisa Andretta and Lucia Dacome offers new evidence on the increasing role of anatomical knowledge in the process of canonization, through the study of the interests and objectives that moved the various actors involved in the postmortems of new saints or in the papal patronage of anatomical collections. The comparison between the autopsies of Ignatius of Loyola and Filippo Neri allows Andretta to investigate some major changes in the interaction between scientific and politico-religious discourse; in particular, she considers the postmortem of Filippo, which took place in 1595, as a "founding episode of a new alliance between science and faith" (p. 279). A similar perspective is adopted by Dacome, who explains Benedict XIV's support of anatomy not only as a decision of an "enlightened" pope but also as part of his interest in the regulation of the cult of saints; in this regard...

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