Reaction Paper Week 2: The Power of Chocolate and Art/Close Reading

            Chocolate and art have diversified into many different forms from when it was first introduced to how it fits into society today. Throughout history, chocolate and art served a variety of purposes and was used to portray different messages. For example, chocolate was used in poems and plays to critic the aristocracy. During the Renaissance, art was used to embrace humanism, but in Spain during the 16^th century, it was also used to express widespread hunger that plagued the country. However, one thing remains true today, chocolate and art has not lost its power to stimulate the human senses and evoke pleasure.

            Chocolate originated in Mexico and was used by the Aztecs for remedies, in rituals, and as currency (S. D. Coe & M. D. Coe M, 2007). When it was introduced to the Spaniards, chocolate paste was mixed with sugar to create a drink enjoyed for its pleasure. Chocolate was also found in solid form as cocoa beans were crushed into a paste, combined with sugar, and even flavored with jasmine leaves, chilies, and vanilla (Professor Villa’s lecture). To further demonstrate its enjoyment, in the 16^th century, it was consumed by Catholics as a drink during fasting period (Professor Villa’s lecture). In Europe during the 17^th century, its drinkable form conveyed the wealth and power of those who had the means to consume it. However, chocolate was not only consumed for pleasure, but became a symbol used to portray the aristocracy’s idleness. In his play, Goldoni subtlety mocks the noble and wealthy through the desire his characters, the Knight of Ripafratta and Marquis of Forlipopoli, have for chocolate (1753). Parini paints a picture of the aristocracy’s idleness as he contrasts the image of the aristocracy enjoying chocolate in bed with the image of chocolate as a product that caused bloodshed (1763). To others chocolate was an inferior and distasteful drink. “Bacchus in Tuscany” was a poem commissioned by Italy to preserve the superiority of wine, as a drink consumed by God, to chocolate (Hunt, 1825). Chocolate served many different purposes depending on one’s social class and the time period. As we see today, chocolate is consumed by all social classes: the upper, the middle, as well as the lower class. The variety chocolate is immense and has expanded beyond its drinkable form and ancient ways of making it. Different levels of chocolate (milk to dark) and the ingredients found in it (from caramel to peanut butter) fit different palettes and taste buds. During class, we were administered different chocolates to smell and taste, and many people described how it evoked a feeling of home and memories of pleasure. Chocolate, the first item to find acceptance in Europe for pleasure, continues to convey the same feeling as it once did.

            The Renaissance, which embraced humanism, celebrated the classical past and individual creativity, fueling the rise of art that portrayed messages of carpe diem (living in the moment) and individuality (Professor Villa’s lecture). In the 17^th century, still-life emerged and some popular examples included xenias and bodegones. Xenias were gifts of items such as eggs, fruits, and vegetables in order to express hospitality (Varriano, 2009). Artists painted these xenias realistically, hoping to stimulate the taste buds by those who laid eyes on these paintings. Bodegones were still-life paintings of kitchen and market scenes. Spanish paintings of bodegones were used to portray the period of hunger in the 16^th century as a result of drought in Spain as well as a “quest for nourishment” (Varriano, 2009). During our site excursion to the Uffizi Gallery, visitors are allowed to gaze at the variety of art forms that emerged during different time periods in order to serve unique purposes. As modern-day visitors, viewing these painting also bought us pleasure. 

Paintings are hung to evoke an atmosphere of aesthetic and pleasure.

Sensory Practice (Sight and Observation Skills)

            In the paintings at Uffizi Gallery, paintings included a variety of fruits, meats, and bread. Fruits that I observed were pomegranates, apples, grapes, oranges, and peaches. Types of meats I observed were fowls, clams, chickens, ducks, a turkey, pigs feet, and a pig’s and cow’s head. The presence of bread was typically found in paintings of the ‘Last Supper’. New World products included turkey. Old World products included apples, pomegranates, pigs, grapes, peaches, and oranges.

                  L’Empoli, Jacopo Chimenti’s painting, Still-life with Pig’s Head and Foot, Calf’s Head and Game, is an example of bodegones. This painting captures an image of abundance through its naturalism and detail. Its realistic depiction almost serves to stimulate the sense of taste and appetite of its viewers through the sense of sight. The presence of birds contributes to this image of abundance as birds were associated with the sky and were consumed by the upper class. Meat was also expensive to consume, but bountiful amounts of it along with different body parts of a pig and cow are present in his still-life. This painting also captured what the Renaissance and the time period after represented. There was a decline in the interest of capturing religious themes in paintings and movement towards secular themes such as embracing life on earth through the pleasure one can gain from consuming food.