The other day, I saw an interesting bit in the internet about Michelangelo and his market list! We think we are the only ones that doodle in the corners of our note pads, or pieces of paper we carry about to remind us of what to accomplish.
Of course, more and more people now enter these items in their Iphone apps, but the charm of individual or eccentric artistry goes by the wayside!
Whether Michelangelo sent his list with a servant, or went to the marketplace square by himself, this list is really a kick. He draws in a fish, fennel soup, a bottle of wine, etc etc. Perhaps the servant was illiterate. This would be a good way to guide him with the purchases. The list is archived at a museum in Florence, the Casa Buonarroti, along with other of his handwritten notes.
By the 18th Century, we have Thomas Jefferson, maybe not doodling, but keeping handwritten lists of the mundane. Shown here at right are lists of vegetables and fruits sold from 1801-1809 from his garden. He was an avid gardener, and collector, who kept records of a wide variety of plants in his garden, but also the vegetables in the market in Washington DC, charting the first and last days the vegetables were available!
And then there was Wolfgang Mozart, who did doodle on his letters! One example, above, is a drawing of his cousin Basle.
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