Week 2 Reflection

Chocolate became popular in Europe around the 17th century. The first Europeans to try it were Spaniards in the Americas, where they drank it as a substitute for wine. When it was brought to the Old World, the first people to enjoy chocolate as a luxury good was the upper class and then as it gained popularity and quantity supplied increased, upper middle class and middle classes began to purchase this product. In the Americas, it was used for religious ceremonies and as currency, but  when it was transported to the Old World, European Catholics used chocolate for fasting for lent.  Because of its original liquid consistency, chocolate was not counted as food and could be drunk during the fasting period. To match European tastes, sugar was added to chocolate.  Beginning from Spain, the use of chocolate spread to Italy, France, England, and later on it became global. Chocolate gained popularity and spread to Florence, where it was first procured at Palazzo Pitti. It is interesting to see how chocolate has become such a popular phenomenon across the world. I went to Conad the other day and there was a huge selection of different chocolate bars through different brands. This shows how globalized chocolate has become and is now marketed through consumerism.

Back at home, I have studied many Baroque and 17th Century still life paintings, but I have never seen chocolate featured in any of them, which is curious because chocolate was entered European daily life during this time.  During our field trip with Professor Rufini, we attended an old perfumerie. There, they had a list of liquids, teas, chocolates, and tonics that they sold from the old days. The one item that stood out to me was the old style jasmine chocolate that they sold of which we spoke of in class.

In art during the Renaissance, humanism, the belief that humans should be the main focus of a piece of art, was a popular movement, but that soon changed. Art and food both can indicate and gives clues about the daily life of the past. Also, food and art can be created as a form of passion.  Xenia means hospitality, but it was also a style of still life, where there is a powerful sense of realism. Artists such as Leonardo and Caravaggio sometimes painted in the style of xenia. Leonardo said that painting should be like a mirror and that a mirror is the master to an artist. It was thought that Caravaggio based many  of his paintings on old poems and writings. There are also writings about Caravaggio’s paintings as well.  

Bodegon was the second style of still life painting that rooted from Spain, but the first Bodegon painters were Italian and Flemish, imported by Spanish art collectors. Bodegon originally meant tavern or “a rough public eating place where offal was consumed.”  This style of painting included market and kitchen scenes. Themes of hunger and starvation influenced by the Spanish famine and drought became  popular with painters. There was a combination of strong light and weak colors to create a mystical look in the painting. For example, Sanchez Cotan’s still lifes are not true bodegones because of the absence of people, capture even more elemental side of the Spanish hunger for food.

Sensory Practice

The  food that I noticed in the paintings in the Uffizi Gallery were both Old and New World products. Foods that were featured were breads, seafoods, fruits and vegetables, such as citrus and leeks, and drinks such as wine and water. What was most common in the paintings were bread, grapes, and wine. Old World products were foods such as wine, grapes, bread, wheat, onions, leeks, and offal. New World products were foods such as citrus, tomatoes, chocolate, and potatoes. The painting that I chose to do a close reading of is by Abraham Mignon called Still Life, which was done in the second half of the 17th century. The foods that are featured in this still life are wine, bread, oysters, grapes, and a citrus fruit. There are also two objects featured: a pipe that is still smoking, and keys hanging from the table. No humans are present, but the presence of the pipe and keys show that they are in existence in this setting and are close by, seeing that the pipe is still burning and the keys are still on the hook. The painting is clearly using the Xenias style, for its extremely realistic, with a high attention to detail, using warm, bright,t and vibrant colors. There is a contrast between the vitality of the grapes and oysters compared to the glass of wine that is half empty, the citrus fruit is half peeled and the insects damaging the fruit. This exemplifies mortality and the cycle of life and death.