ABSTRACT
The concept of the “astrological image” is fundamental to understanding the endeavours of some medieval thinkers to build a theory able to justify a natural astral magic. The Opus praeclarum de imaginibus astrologicis (“Remarkable work on astrological images”), written in 1496, is the most comprehensive contribution to the debate about the so-called “astrological images”, a concept defining a certain kind of talisman that could be traced back to the mid-thirteenth century. Its author, Hieronymus Torrella (Jeroni Torrell, Jerónimo Torrella, Jerome Torrella), was born in Valencia in 1456. His father, Ferrer Torrella, a master of arts and medicine, had studied at the University of Montpellier, whose school of medicine was celebrated; Jerome called him a “very famous physician and expert in the science of the stars”. Jerome’s brothers, Gaspar Torrella and one whose name could be Ausía, were also physicians. Gaspar was a well-known physician of Pope Alexander VI who wrote several treatises notably on syphilis; the other probably worked in Cagliari (Sardinia). Jerome, along with his brother Gaspar, studied at the universities of Siena (1474) and of Pisa, where he graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1477. He was the student of the renowned physicians Alessandro Sermoneta and Pier Leoni da Spoleto. Later, he became the physician of Queen Joan of Naples, wife of King Ferrante the First and sister of King Fernándo of Castile and León – a queen who played an important political role since she was the regent from 1494 to 1496. Torrella went back to Valencia, the place where he completed his Opus praeclarum de imaginibus astrologicis in 1496 (published around 1500). He is next mentioned in 1502 as “examiner” (examinador) of arts and medicine. Nothing sure is known about his later life. 1
