More Campi!

Well, those were some visuals last post, eh? Let's take a look at the second series Vincenzo Campi produced for the unknown patron. Some more exciting paintings depicting vendors and, once again, the figures in his paintings are of lay people. Not aristocrats or merchants, just your regular lay people selling their food and even eating some cheese!

Vincenzo Campi, Fruit Vendor (Photo: ARTstor, SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.)

First off, we have a lovely fruit vendor with another succulent display of numerous fruits and what seems as a few vegetables here and there. Going back to McTighe's article, she states how these paintings present the genders in quite different manners. We have the female figures, like the fruit vendor displaying her own 'plumpness' with that of peaches on her lap. I also find that the fact the fruit vendor is a female displays her fertility and her natural ability to produce. On a side note, as we can see in the background, two figures are picking fruits and I find that Campi not only is able to show the yield of a good harvest but, subtly, show the manner in which the foodstuff is gathered. McTighe also points out, in the Poulterers, that the boy is shown with a grotesque face but the woman, who has the bird bearing it's breast and genitals heightens her sexuality and the overall feeling of the painting.

Vincenzo Campi, Poulterers (Photo: SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.)

Vincenzo Campi, Kitchen
(Photo:SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.)

Another intriguing point I found that McTighe brought up was that, looking at the Kitchen painting, "the composition teems with actions that bring the lower-class figures into dangerous intimacy with foods that would transgress the boundaries of a working person's diet." I had not quite thought about it in this manner before. Yes, 'lower-class figures' are meant to work for the wealthy and handle objects that these figures would never dream of seeing, let alone touch. Food, on the other hand, is very intimately prepared. It is constantly being touched, even taste the food to make sure that it is up to par to what the wealthy would expect. Yet, as the painting shows, the preparation of the food is done in an environment that is simply filled with the hectic life of the lower-class. It is cramped, food is on the floor, a child aids, and there are animals fighting on the floor as well. And in the background we see a neatly prepared dining table that does not reflect the manner of preparation seen in the foreground.

Vincenzo Campi, Fish Vendors(Photo: SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.)

I very much enjoy the next two paintings! I very much am fond of the family portrayal where the father, mother, and child are on the left hand side of the painting titled Fish Vendors. I assume that the girl on the right is the daughter of this family as well. Campi, I find once again, captures a very active moment in a lay person's life and is still able to capture all the movement and energy of the figures. I also seemed to have yet to mention the amount of detail he places in all his paintings! The numerous fruits, birds, and fish he uses is outstanding and each and every one of these are all equal in detail.


The same applies to the Ricotta Eaters, where the eating of the ricotta has tone of celebration and we see the lay people actually engaging with the food in an entirely different manner than what we have previously seen! They are not preparing the ricotta or are presenting it to sell. They are enjoying the taste of the ricotta and are indulging their sense of taste. I find that this painting may be my favourite because, as McTighe stated the lay people and the boundary they may have with what they were preparing earlier in the Kitchen, such things are not present in the Ricotta Eaters. This may also have to do with the lack of background, the focus is simply on the activity of eating. Yet, I find that this lack of boundary, the ability to indulge in the intimacy, also leads to a sense of overindulgence. The man on the left of the painting seems to have be eating too much and still continues to feast on the ricotta, disregarding his limit. I also find that as the men eat the ricotta it makes me want to eat it as well, and as the figures stare at you, they invite you to partake in eating the ricotta as well. Overall, I just enjoy this one the best.

Vincenzo Campi, Ricotta Eaters (photo: cheesesolidarity.wordpress.com)

This ends our tour of the paintings of Vincenzo Campi! He is an amazing artist and I cannot wait to look at more paintings that deal with food and feasts! 

Oh, on a note about the painting of the Poulterers, in both this post and the previous post. They are the same painting. I could not find the proper one for series one because of them being so similar I mistook series two for series one. McTighe's article has both of these paintings but I was also unable to figure out how to get the article photos onto my blog. Apologies for the mistake but (in my opinion) the paintings are too eerily alike!

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.