Pier Andrea Mattioli was born in Siena in March 1501. He was a doctor and naturalist, becoming the physician to both Archduke Ferdinand and Emperor Maximillian II and, as befell many of his contemporaries, succumbed to the plague in around 1577, well into his 70s.
Mattioli’s chef d’oeuvre is considered to be his Commentarii in sex libros, first published in 1544. The work – a ‘herbal’, a collection of plant (and often animal) based medicines and remedies - contains a detailed explanation of the theories of the Greek physician Dioscorides and a full inventory of all the plants Mattioli had encountered, including several he first recorded himself, discovered in Tirol.
The original aim of the work was to better acquaint contemporary physicians with the medical herbs and plants described by Dioscorides. The number of copies produced shows that this was an extremely popular publication, although the man who is often credited with producing Renaissance Italy's best loved herbal is considered to have been somewhat unpleasant, as he reputedly: “hurled the most abusive language at those who ventured to criticise him."