Isabella Cortese

Isabella Cortese (fl. 1561), was an Italian alchemist and writer of the Renaissance.

In 1561, her book I secreti della signora Isabella Cortese first appeared in print in Venice and it introduced alchemy to a wider readership. In it were medical and cosmetic remedies, advice for how to run a household and discussion of how to turn metal into gold.^[1] It was a popular book, which went through several editions into the seventeenth century. She also stated to have learned more from traveling than from reading older texts about the subject.^[2]

Notes

^ Gilleir, Montoya and van Dijk. p. 142. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Robin, Larsen and Levin. p. 5. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

References

Women Writing Back / Writing Women Back: Transnational Perspectives from the late Middle Ages to the dawn of the modern era. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden. 2010. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
Encyclopedia of women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2007. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)

[1] Gilleir, Montoya and van Dijk. p. 142. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[2] Robin, Larsen and Levin. p. 5. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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