Food and Feasting in Art

Title: Food and Feasting in Art
Author: Sylvia Malaguzzi
ISBN: 9780892369140
Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum
Published: 2008
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Number of Pages: 384
Condition Note: Clean, unmarked copy with some edge wear. Good binding. Dust jacket included if issued with one. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description:

Deliciously illustrated with masterpieces of western art, this latest volume in the Guide to Imagery series explores the rituals, customs, and symbolism of food and dining.

The book describes the significance of food and feasts as told in scripture and in the lives of the saints; food and dining in Greek and Roman mythology and in later literature and history; and how artists through the ages have created allegories of gluttony and odes to the sense of taste, using, for example, artfully positioned fruits and vegetables in the golden age of the painted still life.

Also discussed is the role of table settings in relation to such ceremonies as formal dinners and royal banquets. Lastly, a close-up look at the symbolic meanings of individual foods and drinks--from the artichoke, also known as "domestic thistle," to champagne, from chili peppers to absinthe--reveals a figurative language well known to artists of the time but perhaps forgotten by contemporary diners.