Facchini — Labourers — Grevembroch 3-120
Theriac was considered a kind of wonder medicine, and an antidote for most poisons. It required over sixty ingredients, and it was one of the prime products of the many pharmacies in Venice in the 1600s and 1700s.
Due to issues with fraud — and the importance of the industry to the Venetian economy — the Magistrato alla Sanità obliged the spezier and the pharmacists to display the ingredients for theriac in the street in front of the shop for several days each year.
Day labourers were hired to grind the ingredients into a fine powder, working in the open in front of the pharmacy.
This watercolour depicts such a worker, pounding the ingredients of theriac in a giant mortar.
#Commoners #histodons #Theriac #Venezia #Venice
Read more here: https://historywalksvenice.com/translation/facchini-labourers-grevembroch-3-120/