Giacomo Ceruti – Chicken Tetrazzini
Giacomo Ceruti, Still-Life with Hen, Onion, and Pot (c.1750s), oil on canvas, Private collection Baroque artist Giacomo Ceruti was also known as Pitocchetto, Italian for little beggar, because of his numerous canvases featuring peasants begging. He is known for his realistic style of painting and often placed his still lifes and portraits in front of...
Henri Fantin-Latour – Pistachio Rose Water Macarons
Henri Fantin-Latour, Bouquet of Roses (1885), oil on canvas, 38.9 x 46.3 cm, National Gallery of Canada Henri Fantin-Latour was a French painter known for both his flower paintings and group portraits. His style was very precise and he adhered to traditional techniques even though his contemporaries were the radical artists Édouard Manet and Pierre...
Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Crespelle with Bacon Mushroom Ragu
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Vegetable Gardener (c.1590)Oil on wood, 35 x 24 cm, Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona, Italy Italian painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo was know for his portraits but unlike his peers of the 16th century, the faces he depicted were composed of individual objects grouped in a very specific and deliberate way. Out of his...
Édouard Manet – Almond Cake with Grapes & Peaches
I was given the opportunity along with a handful of other food bloggers to submit a guest post to the wonderful site The Kitchn. This is the second time I have worked with a still life by Manet and you can find most of the general information about his life and art in my previous...
Andy Warhol – Tomato Soup Cake
Let me first point out that if you decide to make this cake for anyone, call it by its other name, ‘Mystery Cake.’ I first heard of Tomato Soup Cake when I was flipping through a Michigan cookbook while working at a living history museum. This was after my Freshman year of college when cooking...
Paul Gauguin – Caramelized Apple Omelet
Paul Gauguin, Apples and Bowl (1888), oil on canvas, 27 x 35 cm, Private Collection Paul Gauguin (full name Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin) was a Post-Impressionist painter whose art heralded the return to the pastoral (idealized landscapes) and Primitivism. He was a major influence in the development of Modern art with his bold colours and design...
Georgia O’Keeffe – Apple Crisp with Caramel Sauce
Georgia O’Keeffe, Red Apple on a Blue Plate (1922), oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.6 cm, Private Collection Georgia O’Keeffe is primarily known for her union of abstraction and representation in her works of flowers, rocks, shells, and animal bones. Her flower still life paintings are usually of a single bloom that completely fills the...
Giovanna Garzoni – Lemon Risotto with Homemade Stock
If you are familiar with still life paintings then you will know that the majority of them will feature a lemon somewhere on the canvas. Traditionally citrus fruits represented the wealth of the patron commissioning the painting because they were exotic commodities that required a substantial sum of money to acquire. In an era where...
Osias Beert – Vlaai with Berry Compote
Osias Beert, Still-Life with Cherries and Strawberries in China Bowls (1608)Oil on copper, 50 x 66 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin The Baroque Flemish painter Osias Beert is known for his still life paintings of flowers and breakfast scenes. The breakfast pieces are commonly known by their Dutch name ontbijtjes which translates to ‘little breakfasts.’ These...
Juan Sánchez Cotán – Spanish Curtido with Pickled Melon
Juan Sánchez Cotán, Still-life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber (c. 1600)Oil on canvas, 69 x 85 cm, Museum of Art, San Diego The Spanish painter Juan Sánchez Cotán is known as a pioneer of realism working within the transition period between Mannerist and Baroque painting. He established the still life style called ‘bodegón’ where...
Frida Kahlo – Pico de Gallo
Frida Kahlo, Naturaleza Muerta Con Sandias (Still Life with Watermelon) (1953)Oil on compressed wood, 40 x 60 cm, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Mexico The majority of Frida Kahlo‘s paintings are self-portraits exploring her sexuality and expressing her pain. As an active communist sympathizer Kahlo’s work does not shy away from political sentiments and she...
Édouard Manet – Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce
Édouard Manet, A Bunch of Asparagus (1880)Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Édouard Manet was an artist bent on changing the established practice of art and artists starting with challenging the specific hierarchy of genres. He often painted his still life paintings on large canvases, a size that was generally reserved for the...