Italian Studios and Medicinal Origins
Renaissance apothecaries blended aromatics for both hygiene and health. Manuscripts from Santa Maria Novella in Florence describe infusing rosemary, myrtle, and bergamot into grape-based alcohol—a tonic prescribed for gout that doubled as perfume. Merchants arriving via Venice imported benzoin, cloves, and civet, expanding the perfumer’s palette beyond Mediterranean botanicals.
Artisans experimented with distillation glassware improved by alchemists such as Hieronymus Brunschwig. These stills produced clearer distillates, enabling lighter “waters” alongside heavier oil-based unguents.
French Court Patronage
When Catherine de' Medici settled in Paris, she established a laboratory in the Tuileries gardens. Her perfumer René le Florentin supplied scented gloves, powders, and antidotal pastilles. The fashion spread quickly through royal circles, prompting guild regulations to control quality and limit adulterated imports.
By the reign of Louis XIV, Versailles demanded daily deliveries of orange blossom and tuberose. Perfumers were expected to master both aromatic chemistry and etiquette—supplying formulas for perfumed letters, pomanders, and room fumigations designed to combat the odours of densely populated palaces.
Grasse and the Birth of Industry
The town of Grasse transitioned from glove making to perfume extraction when local tanners discovered that jasmine and orange blossom absolutes masked the smell of leather. Techniques like enfleurage—spreading petals over fat to absorb aroma—emerged here, while stillhouses distilled lavender and neroli for export.
Seasonal flower harvests linked farmers, distillers, and traders; investors financed stills and copper alembics to meet demand from Paris, Genoa, and Cologne. These networks laid the organisational groundwork for 19th-century perfume factories.
Iconic Formulas
Hungary Water combined rosemary, lemon balm, and wine spirit for Queen Elisabeth of Hungary; surviving recipes in apothecary manuals document maceration times and distillation cycles. Farina’s 1709 Eau de Cologne replaced heavy balms with bergamot, neroli, and petitgrain, establishing the bright citrus accord still sold today.
Scented gloves flavoured with civet and musk remained status symbols, while sachets of lavender and cloves protected garments from moths—evidence that fragrance served both luxury and practical household roles.