Madame de la Martinville

Madame de la Martinville (1555 – after 1610) was a French alchemist in the Paracelsian school. Historian Didier Kahn has identified her as Louise Robot, and her husband as Charles le Fort.[1]: 228  She is also referred to as Matrone de Martinvilla and Madame Martin Viel.[2]: 147  She has sometimes been identified with a pseudonymous alchemist known as Quercetanus's daughter, but that was more likely Jeanne du Port.[2]: 43 

Martinville was closely associated with the prominent French physician and advocate of chemical-based Paracelsian approach to medicine, Joseph Duchesne (also known as Quercetan or Quercetanus); he shared chemical preparations with her as early as 1589.[2]: 148  In 1595 and 1596, Martinville was at the center of the "Juranville Affair" which scandalized Geneva society.[1]: 228  Her mother-in-law accused Martinville of engaging in an incestuous relationship with her step-father, Jean Escoréol, and Duchesne used his influence to defend her.[1]: 229  In fact, Escoréol had sexually assaulted Martinville sometime around 1576, which he confessed on his deathbed a few years before the affair came to light.[1]: 233 

As an alchemist, Martinville followed the Paracelsian approach, like her mentor (she is sometimes described as Duchesne's "spiritual daughter").[2]: 161  Her approach bears many similarities to modern science, and she was noted among her peers for her "provings" of chemical "receipts" (recipes).[2]: 38  Her first publication was in 1609, the same year Duchesne died. The original French version has been lost, but a Latin translation published in Stuttgart in 1615 as Epistola nobilissima Matrone de Martinvilla ad Dom. Quercitanum survives in Copenhagen's Royal Library.[3]: 12  Her 1610 treatise, Discours philosophical, survives in the original French.[2]: 148  Both texts use a mixture of chemical and symbolic language, typical of Paracelsian alchemical writing, and the Discours explicitly discusses Paracelsus.[2]: 148 [3]: 12 

In 2026, German artist Anselm Kiefer included a painting of Martinville in his collection, The Women Alchemists, which was displayed in Milan's Sala delle Cariatidi as part of the cultural showcase of the 2026 Winter Olympics.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kahn, Didier (2001). "Inceste, Assassinat, Persécutions Et Alchimie en France et a Genève (1576–1596): Joseph du Chesne et Mlle de Martinville". Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance (in French). 63 (2): 227–259. ISSN 0006-1999. JSTOR 20680272.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bayer, Penny (2003). Women's alchemical literature 1560–1616 in Italy, France, the Swiss Cantons and England, and its diffusion to 1660 (PhD thesis). University of Warwick.
  3. ^ a b Fabbri, Natacha (2026). Women Alchemists: Biographical Notes from the Catalogue. Milan: Palazzo Reale.
  4. ^ Wullschläger, Jackie (7 February 2026). "Anselm Kiefer, master of spectacle, on the lost women of history". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 February 2026.
  5. ^ "Kiefer. The Women Alchemists". Marsilio Arte (in Italian). Retrieved 8 February 2026.
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