Those food visuals

The previous post was all text based. Let's move on to some visual representation of food. The artist in focus is Vincenzo Campi (1536-1591). I decided to focus on Campi as a result of not being able to find much on peasants and their diets (and dealing with food) during the Renaissance. Luckily, in attempting to find the reason why these paintings were painted, I found an article, written by Sheila McTighe, titled Foods and the Body in Italian Genre Paintings, about 1580: Campi, Passarotti, Carracci. And, as we can see from the article title, lead me to a few other artists as well!
As McTighe states, the series of 5 paintings were for the patronage of the Fugger family of Augsburg, in ~1580. He also had a later unknown patron, who also requested a series of 5 paintings. Both series present fruit and fish vendors, poulterers, and the second series containing cheese eaters as well. So, let us get into his first series.

Vincenzo Campi, Fish Vendors (Photo: Jstor)

A real focus for these series of paintings is the theme they present. There are not many paintings, even writing, from this period that explain or show what or how lay people worked, or ate, their food. I understand that there is an understanding that lay people did not have the best diet and the threat of famine was a constant -- there always seems to be a sense of pity and despair. But Campi portrays the husband and wife as cheerful people and are full of life. Perhaps it was the way in which the patron asked for the figures to be presented, but we must keep in mind that lay people did thrive in some years when harvest or fishing were yielded a large amount of produce.

Vincenzo Campi, The Fruit Vendor (Photo: reproarte.com)

There's a large abundance of foodstuff in which the lay people present. I found this a tad interesting because, even if they had this large amount of food available to them, they would not be able to indulge in the food. The food is tangible evidence of their hard work on the fields and though they needed to survive, and did eat some of their product but ideally selling most of it would come first. Yet, this also brings me to ask, would they have had this much food as the result of a harvest? Some more research will have to go into this.

Vincenzo Campi, Fishmonger (Photo: bjws.blogspot.ca)

 What McTighe points out though, is that this particular theme of painting is similar to Flemish market scenes by Antwerp painters Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer. A point of interest, as McTighe also points out, is that the Italian paintings have a lack of biblical motifs in the background. Which, for me, could be seen as the Italian painters depicting the how fruitful the peninsula is and the diversity they had in the food stuff present.

Vincenzo Campi, Poulterers (Photo: ARTstor)

I also find that the paintings do well to show the dynamic of the family. In three out of the five paintings we see a child, either in the lap of the mother or aiding his mother (like in the Poulterers). Campi also presents the joy that the husband and the wife share while presenting their foodstuff. The feeling of the portraits are intimate in the way that the figures interact. The husband and wife jesting is also something that I enjoy in his paintings. Unlike some other paintings, like biblical passages, where the placement of figures are thoroughly thought about and the inclusion of patrons, or the artists themselves, give the paintings a static sense to them (at least to me they do).

Vincenzo Campi, Fish Vendors (Photo: Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art)

With these paintings, Campi captures a moment of time, a simple snapshot, of people enjoying moments from their daily lives. The background, as mentioned above, is may not be biblical in meaning but what comes to mind is a sense of these lay people being immersed in nature. Their lives are constantly surrounded by nature, be it growing the animals or ploughing and sowing the fields. Their lives are dependent on what nature gives them in exchange for their hard work. 

This post is getting a little long so I will pick up Campi's second series, commissioned by an unknown patron, in the following post to come! Stay tuned!

McTighe, Sheila. "Foods and the Body in Italian Genre Paintings, about 1580s: Campi, Passarotti, Carracci." The Art Bulletin 86.2 (2004): 301-323. JSTOR. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.