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Tag Archives: Giovanna Garzoni

Still Life I: Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670)

18 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Roger H. Boulet in fine art, painting, still life painting, visual art

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Giovanna Garzoni, italian art, late Renaissance art, still-life painting

 

garzoni - cherries

Giovanna Garzoni, Cherries in a Dish, a Pod, and a Bumblebee, ca. 1642-51. gouache on parchment, 24.5 x 37.5 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.


The cherries on the trees were just beginning to turn pink, when I first thought it was time to turn to this blog again. Seemed like a productive thing to do while I recovered from knee surgery at home. In an earlier blog this year [18  January 2015] I mentioned the marvellous late Renaissance Italian painter, Giovanna Garzoni, who specialized in still life paintings and miniatures. She is almost unknown even though she has been the subject of a couple of exhibitions and one modest book. Still life painters rarely get included in the canon of great artists, let alone female artists who worked with still life. All the more reason to celebrate them here!

I begin with Giovanna Garzoni because she was one of the earliest. In her case, still life painting comes out of natural history illustration, such as botanical art and scientific illustration. This was, after all, the late Renaissance where the study of the natural world through direct observation was an intellectual pursuit. This was also an age of inquiry where some effort was made to represent the natural world as realistically as possible. The aristocracy of the day who were the artist’s patrons had a considerable interest in the natural world, as they designed and constructed their gardens, importing plants from far off places and exotic lands.

Apparently her first commissioned work (from a pharmacist) was a Herbarium when she was 16 years of age. A fairly early marriage ended in an annulment as it seems Giovanna had already made a vow of chastity. As she had no man to support her and she did not join a religious order, she was totally dependent on aristocratic patronage, and this she seems to have been able to secure throughout her life. The appeal of her work on parchment using opaque watercolours (gouache) and the intimate nature of her small scale works found support, and these works even in reproduction provide an indication of her achievement.

garzoni peaches and a cucumber

Giovanna Garzoni, Peaches in a Dish  with Cucumber, n.d. gouache on parchment, 25 x 36 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.

The colour of the peaches is most lovingly rendered. The cucumber looks a bit strange, but may be a variety foreign to North American markets. The leaves show signs of insect damage.


1280px-Giovanna_Garzoni_Stillleben_mit_Birnen_und_einem_Schmetterling

Giovanna Garzoni, Still Life with Pears and a Butterfly, n.d. gouache on parchment, 17 x 23.5 cm, Dorotheum, Vienna.

Apparently an earlier work by the artist, the pears seem a bit artificial, while the butterfly is possibly pinned to the wall rather than in flight. One characteristic of a Garzoni still life is the tight grouping of the fruit on a table or in a bowl, along with the leaves of the tree fruit. The inclusion of the leaves may be a characteristic of botanical illustration.


garzoni - figs

Giovanna Garzoni, A Plate of Figs, 1652. gouache on parchment, 26 x 38 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.


garzoni - figs2

Giovanna Garzoni, Figs in a Chinese Bowl, with Cherries and a Goldfinch, n.d. gouache on parchment, 26 x 38 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.

A number of works feature figs, and others contain birds pecking at the fruit. The figs are in an imported blue and white Chinese bowl, no doubt owned by her aristocratic patrons. The figs are literally bursting in their ripeness.


garzoni - beans

Giovanna Garzoni, Beans in a Dish, n.d. gouache on parchment, 24.5 x 34.5 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.

Almost bursting out of their pods, these beans are shown in a simple earthenware dish, with a worn rim, along with some beans, leaves, and some carnations.


garzoni - plums and walnuts

Giovanna Garzoni, Plums in a Dish with Jasmine and Walnuts, n.d. gouache on parchment, 23.5 x 38.5 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.

Apparently plums, although they look like some type of small pear to me.  White jasmine flowers are also included. The bluish flowers seem to be some type of Morning Glory. A cracked walnut is also offered.


Giovanna_garzoni,_natura_morta_con_popone_su_ub_piatto,_uva_e_una_chiocciola,_1642-51_ca._02

Giovanna Garzoni, Melon on a Plate with Grapes and a Snail, ca. 1642-51, gouache on parchment, 35.5 x 49.5 cm x 38 cm, Galleria Paletina, Florence.

A melon is presented on an old earthenware plate, along with a knife that has been used to cut a wedge from it. Melon seeds also appear, as well as grapes. A very realistic fly on the melon demonstrates the painter’s skill at verisimilitude. A snail appears on a a stem as well. In many ways, such still life painting may evoke the story of the ancient Greek painter Zeuxis whose painting of grapes was so realistic that birds flew down to peck at them.


Giovanna Garzoni lived and worked in a time when still life painting was just coming to the fore, although it was always considered a minor branch of painting.  The 17th century also produced brilliant still life painters in the Netherlands, and many are far better known that Garzoni.  But there is a quiet charm to her small-scale work which is often not present in the work of her Dutch contemporaries who seem to revel in displays of virtuosity.

I have always loved still life painting and sought it out in galleries and museums I have visited through the years. I will return to the subject of still-life painting in further posts.

© Roger H. Boulet, 2015


 

References:

Trkulja, Silvia M. & Fumagalli, Elena. Still Lifes – Giovanna Garzoni. Paris: Bibliothèque de l’Image, 2000.


A slide show of Giovanna Garzoni’s work can be seen on YouTube, unfortunately without details. Some of the pictures also lack clarity, but it is still worth viewing.

Food, Music and Silence

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by Roger H. Boulet in food, painting, recipe

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Giovanna Garzoni, Italian cuisine, Renaissance cuisine

I was reading an article by Peter Hellman on Snooth this morning in which he suggests that a quiet environment, away from all distractions, especially related to connectivity, allows for a greater appreciation of wine. I believe that, and while snow covers the ground here in Summerland, one’s tendency is to cocoon a bit, and concentrate on some of life’s simple pleasures.

Many years ago, I bought a little cookbook entitled Florentines, by Lorenza de Medici. It has always been a delight, especially because of the reproductions of paintings by Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670). In her preface, Lorenza de’Medici also makes reference to a manuscript by Giacomo Castelvetro (1546-1616) titled (in translation) as The Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy (1614). Castelvetro wrote the manuscript as an exile in Great Britain and was lamenting the preponderance of meat in the British diet, and remembering nostalgically the marvelous produce of his native country.

florentines

Some of the recipes in the book may seem a bit odd to us today, but I did try one out a few days ago and the result was terrific. This was a salad of cucumbers with a walnut dressing. Here is the recipe, as appears in the book: 


Cucumber with Walnuts (Cetrioli alle Noci)

6 cucumbers
a handful of fresh white breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves
½ cup shelled walnuts
2 tsp wine vinegar
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Peel the cucumber and slice it thinly. Place in a salad bowl.

2. Soak the breadcrumbs in water; then squeeze them  dry and place in a mortar or food processor, together with the garlic and walnuts.  Pound or blend until smooth, if necessary adding a little water to make a homogenous cream. Dilute with the vinegar and oil and add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour the sauce over the cucumber and serve.

Servings: 4

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 152 calories, 86 calories from fat, 10.3g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 9.8mg sodium, 698.6mg potassium, 12.1g carbohydrates, 4.2g fiber, 6.8g sugar, 5g protein.

Source
Source: Florentines – A Tuscan Feast, by Lorenza de Medici  ISBN: 0-679-41850-4


A few comments are in order. I used a single long English cucumber in this recipe with excellent results.  One could use small field cucumbers, seeds removed, or even the mini cucumbers that are now available.  The recipe would probably be quite good with an Armenian cucumber was well.

Cucumbers today may be quite different from what was available during the Renaissance.  Castelvetro says about cucumbers that

“because of their coldness, we eat them with onions and pepper, or serve them with gooseberries or verjuice. We never use the large yellow ones in salads, as the English do, but only the small completely green cucumbers.  We make another dish with the big ones, which is very good; we cut them in half lengthwise and hollow out the soft part inside. Then fill them with  a stuffing of finely chopped herbs, breadcrumbs, an egg, grated cheese and oil or butter, all mixed together, then roast them on a grid, or cook them gently in an earthenware pot or a tinned copper dish with a lid. You could add pepper or strong spices.”

Of walnuts, he writes:

“We also have walnuts , which are common everywhere. The green ones start to be good about the feast of San Lorenzo [10 August], and  are highly esteemed and eaten by the gentry, who consider the dry ones to be on the whole more coarse than genteel.”

He goes on to say that in Lombardy, the coarser walnuts are made into an oil which the poor folk use for lighting.

As for Giovanna Garzoni, here is her Bowl of Peaches with a Cucumber, a watercolour.

garzoni peaches and a cucumber

There is quiet simplicity in most of Garzoni’s little paintings. The one above celebrates summer fruits and vegetable, while the one on the cover of Florentines – a Tuscan Feast is her Bowl of Plums and Walnuts with Jasmine Flowers. I will discuss Giovanna Garzoni’s paintings in a future post, and deal more generally with the subject of still-life.

© Roger H. Boulet, 2015

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