Richard Mayhew: Painted Love Poems for the Earth and Black-American Vintners

When I was studying art history in Avignon, heart of Provence and the Côte de Rhone wine region, my classmates would sometimes roll their eyes at my affection for landscape painting. They would admit that their area was beautiful, indeed, with its vineyards, olive groves, and lavender fields. However, landscape painting was rather passée, though (eye-roll) always very popular with “les américains.” Well yes, we like landscape paintings, and while France is literally a garden, it doesn’t have the landscape that we have in North America. There is no vastness, no trajectory from soft low mountains across endless prairies to high rugged peaks. There is no southwestern desert, an area so unique that one could believe it came from some other planet and simply smashed into and melded with a primodial Earth. Yet, when I looked at France and how over the centuries, the people had always looked at and worked with the landscape to make France that garden I spoke of, I saw a common human link. We are all tied to the land. It is us, and we are it.

Spiritual Retreat #1 by Richard Mayhew, 1997. Hover over image to magnify.

As one looks at this painting, it is easy to see why it is called Spiritual Retreat #1. It has the dreamlike quality of a meditation. One does not walk physically in such a space, but rather lets the mind wander over these grasses and hills, taking in the soothing greens, the dark trees and their shadows, and that promising golden horizon. The artist rightly calls these paintings, “mindscapes” because they are his imagination’s interpretations of the environment sent back to the world in a poetically painted remix. It was French Impressionist, Edgar Degas, who responded to the plein air painters of his day by saying, “A painting is above all the product of the artist’s imagination,” and that “A painting needs a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy.” All of that applies to Richard Mayhew’s art.

Spring Series #1 Richard Mayhew, 1997. Hover over image to magnify.

The painting above, Spring Series #1 is bursting with life. The colors are bold and vibrant. Shades of different colors burst out in wavy forms. They are blurred by the speed with which they are growing. Bright yellow against deep greens, feathery light blue stokes against an inky blue-black roerschach image of trees, then more bright yellow. Yet, this less is solid as it melts into the pale pink touches of the atmosphere. The painting takes the viewer into the creative energy that bursts forth from the land when the growing season starts. Winter is over, and Spring is here to produce all kinds of new living things.

Richard Mayhew took on the landscape and made it his primary statement on art, even as the art of 20th century America was turning the world upside down with its abstract expressionism. Mayhew comes from Amityville, Long Island in New York. African-American and Native-American (Cherokee on his mother’s side and Shinnacock on his father’s), he took his inspiration from the land around him, which he interpreted with his use of colors and dreamlike shapes to express the emotion of the scene rather than any physical actuality. In fact, Mayhew often starts just putting colors on the canvas, and works those until he finds his painting. Though what he “finds” always relates to memory, dreams, emotions, and imagination based upon what he has seen in the land.

Santa Fe Trail, Richard Mayhew, 1999. Hover over image to magnify.

I spoke above about the attitude overseas toward landscape painting as a modern genre, but the U.S. also provided Mayhew with such obstacles. Not only was abstract expressionism the movement of his time, Black-American artists were always seen in terms of social realism and depictions of Black-American life and history in the United States. So how would a piece like Santa Fe Trail, with its soft red earth and softer red sky fit into the box that had been established for Black artists? These two items, social attitudes really, were to plague Mayhew in the early part of his career, until Spiral.

Spiral was a think tank for Black artists that came out of the 1963 March on Washington. Its founders, Romare Bearden, Hale Woodruff, Norman Lewis, Emma Amos, Felrath Hines, some of whom were from the days of the Harleem Renaissance, sought to tackle the conundrum of whether Black artists should “aspire to be part of the mainstream or was their challenge to honor more directly the stories of African-American life?” (Walker, Transcendence, p.9). Hale Woodruff put it simply as keeping one’s work at the highest quality of development while “conveying a telling quality about what we are as a people.” (p.9). In other words, the high quality was a must but also the expression of authentic diversity within a community.

Mayhew’s landscape paintings and Norman Lewis’ beautiful abstract expressionist work (see “Beyond Black: The Paintings of Norman Lewis…” ofartandwine.com), were definitely expressions of the diversity of thought within the Black arts community. However, such outliers often win against all odds and create sprouts of new and visually exciting things. In the case of Lewis and Mayhew, their paintings sprang up in between the accustomed work like stray flowers growing out of the cracks in the cement.

Concerto by Richard Mayhew, 2000

Mayhew had studied in Europe in the early 60s with both a Ford and a Whitney grant. He became quite a skilled portraitist, but he always returned to landscape. In Concerto, he paints according to the definition of a musical piece in three parts, where a concert orchestra supports the individual work of a single instrument (a violin, piano, cello, or flute). The painting’s two hillsides and the vibrant yellow and violet background are the three parts. The mass of trees and foliage do the heavy lifting of the concert orchestra that lets the ethereal beauty of the violet and gold atmosphere rise like the notes of a solo flute.

Rhapsody by Richard Mayhew, 2002 (Shot in studio Master). Hover over image to magnify.

In a painting like Rhapsody, Mayhew follows in paint the musical format of a rhapsody: spontaneaous inspiration and improvisation with highly contrasted moods, colors, and tonality. The deep, inky, blue-violet stand of trees contrasted against a deep pink sky is a burst of freedom, as though the paint wanted to run away and in the process created the outline of some trees.

As can be seen by the names of his paintings involving music, Mayhew liked to bring in elements from other arts. In his teaching career, he sometimes found himself the outsider in the traditional art department. He was a believer in interdisciplinary studies as an approach to art, which many places did not quite understand. His work with creative consciousness involving all aspects of life was laughable to the strict technical skills disciplinarians at some art schools. He found a more receptive atmosphere at Sonoma State University which enabled him to complete his work in interdisciplinary studies. After receiving his degrees, he went to Penn State where he taught from 1977 to 1991 and created an interdisciplinary program there.

Mayhew’s work was represented in New York City at the Midtown Gallery for 20-30 years before he moved to the ACA Gallery, with which he has had a long and beneficial relationship. He mentions the struggles of his artist friend, Norman Lewis, who was represented by Willard Gallery along with other “mystical” painters. Mayhew says of the relationship, “Like me and my ‘mindscapes,’ Norman’s abstraction was about the uniqueness of self. We just had different sensibilities.” (Transcendence, p. 19).

Atascadero by Richard Mayhew, 2013. Hover over image to magnify.

In Atascadero, a more recent painting made since Mayhew’s move to retire in California, a calm loveliness emanates from the painting. The foreground, a soft yellowish brown, is smooth and undistrubed, no rocks, no patches of grass, just earth. Beyond the boundary of the trees, there is a light green that looks as though some stray ray of sunlight illuminates it, making the viewer want to go there. If one’s imagination walked through the opening in the trees to that patch of light green, there is the promise of a far away vista of blue mountains and limitless sky. This image from the mind of Richard Mayhew is a testament to his life-long connection to the land and his desire to present his authentic vision of it.

This is Richard Mayhew, a 96-year-old artist who still paints and shares his vision of the world through his works. For more on the artist, watch this video. “What Color is Love?” youtube.com. And for a special treat watch this snippet from the celebration of Mayhew’s art held in 2014 at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora. youtube.com

Images for this post are used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review, critique and discussion. All works © Richard Mayhew.

Sources for this article are as follows:

“Atascadero. Petrucci Family Foundation” pffcollection.com

“Richard Mayhew Show Awards in the Hamptons” news.artnet.com

Transcendence, Richard Mayhew, with essay by Andrew Walker. Chronicle Books

For more on Marjorie Vernelle, see the author page at amazon.com/author/marjorievernelle or go to the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com

Black-American Vintners

Yes, there he is. The man once selected as best young sommelier by the Chaîne des Rotisseur in Paris.

Well, might as well start this discussion off with someone who has made a stellar career in the wine trade. He will tell you in his TED talk, “How to be a Black Sheep” (youtube.com) that his switch in the early 2000s from working in high finance to being a sommelier and winemaker was a giant leap of faith. He wanted to bring the hip-hop energy to winemaking and do it in a unique way. Mack chose not to grow his own grapes, but to purchase various yields from growers then blend them into his signature wines that have names like “Bottoms Up,” “Horsehoes and Handgrenades,” “Love Drunk,” and “Other People’s Pinot Noir.” His brand is Maison Noir, a change from the original name of Mouton Noir (Black Sheep), and if you want to see him go through a variety of wine tastings, each with a different subject and intent, just go to this link for a selection of instructive and fun videos (youtube.com).

However, the first Black-American wine maker in the U.S. was John June Lewis, Sr., who became enamoured of wine making during his stay in France in World War I. He inherited land in Virgina in 1933 and by 1940, he opened Woburn Winery, the first Black-owned winery in the United States (see blackwinemakersstory.com). Though it took some years, Lewis was not to be alone, as New Orleans business woman, Ires Rideau, bought 6 acres in California’s Santa Ynez Valley in 1989 and later expanded to 24 acres to form Rideau Vineyard. She grew Rhone varietals and blended them to complement the Creole style cooking that represented her Black and Creole heritage. Though she is no longer the owner, Rideau Vineyard still exists and specializes in “hand-crafted wines” (rideauvineyard.com).

Wines produced by The Brown Estate. Photo credit to be-paper.brownestate.com

The Napa Valley is the home of The Brown Estate, which is run by three siblings, on land purchased by their parents in 1985. The Brown Estate started by selling grapes to other winemakers, but in 1995 the two sisters and their brother started making wine themselves. By 2002, Wine Spectator did a special article on them and their Zinfandel wine. They continue to produce Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and Merlot.

The entrepreneurship involved sometimes has an international flavor, as in the McBride sisters, who are stationed in Monterey, California and Marlborough, New Zealand. Their Black-owned and woman-owned wine company focuses on sustainability and inclusivity in the wine industry. Their company, Black Girl Magic Wines encourages consumers to support Black-owned vintners. mcbridesisters.com

Woman driving a tractor in the vineyard. Photo credit blackwinemakersstory.com

And to top it all off, Journey Between the Vines: The Black Winemakers’ Story is a documentary that takes one through the story of award-winning Black winemakers, with an eye to disrupting the stereotypes about who can be a successful winemaker. For more on that see youtube.com and documentary.org

The team that produced the documentary. Just above Marvin Glover, director/producer. And the trio of Marcia Jones, writer; Bry Sanders, photography; and Marion Meadows, Composer. blackwinemakersstory.com/the filmmakers

And there is plenty more, such as the Association of African-American Vintners and articles in vinepair.com “Ten African-American Winemakers Everyone Should Know” and in Wine Spectator on the association mentioned above winespectator.com. While the road has been an uphill climb, the future is bright for both the vintners and the consumers.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and     CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2022

Coming Soon: Observing the Observed in La Loge, and Women Winemakers.

In the Loge by Mary Cassatt, 1879.

Not unlike Edouard Manet’s Belle Epoque masterpiece Bar at the Folies Bérgére, Mary Cassatt, an American painter in the Impressionist era, took note of what was happening around her when she went out on the town for an evening in Paris. The painting tells quite a story. Cassatt was not the only female impressionists painters, as even one of the artist’s models got to display her paintings at the Salon.

Frida and Diego: Art, Love, and Watermelons, plus Wines for Valentine’s

Frid Kahlo and Diego Rivera from “8 Photos of Their Colorful Love Story,” Biography.com

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were art “rock stars” before there was Rock. Frida, first only seen as “the wife of Rivera,” became one of the most famous women painters in history. She was so very artful that her style of dress has become almost as famous as her paintings. Rivera, the most famous of the Mexican muralistas, influenced the painting of artists in the U.S. when he came to paint here in the 1930s. While most of Kahlo’s paintings were small, some being little ex-voto paintings recording her survival of all the physical suffering she endured, Rivera also could do easel painting. Of the most interesting subjects that they both treated were watermelons. Seemingly an “odd” choice, watermelons were the subject of the last painting that each of them did. This calls for a dive into the story of their lives and their work, as well as a look into Mexican culture.

The Kahlo-Rivera Dilemma: Can’t Live With; Can’t Live Without.

My Dress Hangs Here by Frida Kahlo frida-kahlo-foundation.org Hover over image to magnify.

Kahlo spent the early part of her marriage to Rivera simply being “Mrs. Rivera,” as she traveled with her husband from one place where he was painting to another (see “Frida Kahlo: Accidents and Identity” vernellestudio.com). The painting above was done in 1933, as she traveled with Rivera, and shows what must have been a complete cacaphony of images, events, sounds, and culturally overwhelming experiences. Yet, when we look at the images of trash piles, burning edifaces, skyscrapers, smokestacks, and the woman in the red dress, front and center is Kahlo’s signature Tejuana shirt and huipil top. She made herself stand out as a way of confronting being an outsider. Notably she hangs the dress on a purple ribbon that is tied to a toilet on one side and a trophy on the other. Perhaps this is how she saw her function as wife to Rivera, an arm- candy trophy on one hand (she was very well educated, beautiful, and stunningly perceptive) and on the other hand, a maid/cleaning lady, hence the toilet. However, she kept painting and ultimately was recognized as an accomplished and fearless painter in her own right. One of her most commonly used subjects was herself in self-portraits that represented her emotional life.

Frida_Kahlo_(self_portrait)
Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940; Self-Portrait as a Tejuana, 1943; Broken Column, 1944

Kahlo summed up her life by saying, “There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolly. The other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.” Having suffered from polio as a child, at 18 she was involved in a trolley accident which injured her body so terribly, she was bedridden for months and suffered numerous operations thereafter. She began to paint at that time, and her subject was herself (see the reference articles below for her biographical details). As her own career developed, in the late 1930s she was called a surrealist. Kahlo famously said that she became a surrealist when André Breton came from France to Mexico to tell her that was what she was. In her mind, she just painted reality, physical and emotional.

As Kahlo began to become at least known, Rivera was riding high, painting murals in the U.S. such as the Detroit Industrial Murals, 27 panels showing industry. Painted for Ford Motor Company and now in the Detroit Institute of Art, they were deemed a National Historic Landmark in 2014. His most infamous painting for industry came in 1933 when he painted Man At The Crossroads for the Rockefeller Center in New York City. The Rockefellers approved of his idea of contrasting capitalism with communism, but when the press began to criticize, Rivera replied by adding in a May Day Parade for International Workers’ Day and a portrait of Lenin. Nelson Rockefeller asked for the Lenin portrait to be taken out; Rivera, a life-long communist, refused, so Rockfeller had the work plastered over. Rivera took photos before that was done so that he might recreate a smaller version now on display in Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes. Of course, one of his greatest works is the Dream of Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park in the Museo Mural in Mexico City (see the previous post for more on that work).

While Rivera was painting massive panels on epic subjects, he was also having affairs, including one with Frida’s sister. Frida responded with affairs of her own. Such things led to the break-up of the marriage in 1939. However, in 1940, the Frida-Diego relationship reunited in a second marriage, but with certain rules, including no sex between the two of them. Diego was free to have his dalliances and Frida went on to a 10-year relationship with photographer Nickolas Muray. The couple lived in two different houses, though Frida sometimes would reside with Diego. Most of the time she stayed in her family home, La Casa Azul, in the Coyoacan neighborhood of Mexico City. The relationship remained tumultuous, yet the couple was very much moored to one another.

Frida suffered more from the bad health brought on by that accident in her youth, losing her right foot and then her right leg up to the knee in the last years before her death. Her solo exhibition in Mexico City came at a time (1954) when the only way she could attend was to be bedridden, but yes, she was there in bed in the gallery, greeting guests while lying on her back. She died that same year from either a pulmonary embollism or from an overdose of medication, whether accidental or intentional, it is not known. Diego died three years later and left instructions that all of Frida’s possessions should be locked in unused rooms in La Casa Azul for 50 years.

And now the watermelons

Viva la Vida (Long Live Life) by Frida Kahlo, 1954. Hover over image to magnify.

It is easy to pass by the painting of watermelons painted by Frida, called Viva La Vida (Long Life Live), and wonder what the fascination with this fruit was. Certainly it is common in Mexico, and the main ingredient in a refreshing drink called Agua de sandía (here’s a link to a recipe for that wonderful drink foodnetwork.com.) We can all imagine a hot day where one of the great pleasures of life is taking a bite of a chilled slice of sweet watermelon. In the Mexican folklore tradition of the Day of the Dead, the skeletons dressed in clothing are often seen eating and drinking. One of the favorite images is of a skeleton eating a slice of watermelon. Perhaps there is no better image for taking a bite out of life, than a big bite of that juicy melon. The whole idea of the Day of the Dead (El dia de los muertos) is not just to remember the family and friends who have passed away, but also to look at the living and our habits, poke fun of them, and understand the irony of life, which is that none of us survive it.

Frida made this painting just 8 days before her death. It seems a grand gesture of her acknowledgement that life, while vibrant and delicious, is also impermanent like this fruit, which is fresh for a while then rots away. This painting with the title that celebrates life, uses the fruit eaten by the specters of the calaveras and catrines (skulls and dressed skeletons) that come out dancing on the Day of the Dead to remind us that they are us and we are them. Considering her own death, Frida said, “I hope the exit is joyful, and I hope never to return.” Her last visual statement was the painting of the watermelons.

The Watermelons by Diego Rivera 1957 diegorivera.org Hover over image to magnify.

Three years later it was Diego’s turn. He had suffered a stroke and was deprived of the use of his right arm. He had been devastated by Frida’s death, but remarried and struggled to paint. Here in a sort of subliminal echo of Frida, his last painting, too, was of watermelons. His watermelons have a life-like texture created by his mixing of sand into his oil paint. The one on the lower right is partially eaten. On the left are ones that seem to have a bit scooped out at the end. Given the difficulty he experienced trying to paint, since “the brush no longer obeyed him” (diegorivera.org), one can only imagine the diligence with which he worked on this last expression, one to match that of Frida’s. Star-crossed, as in the best of Shakespeare’s tragedies, their last communication may have been in the form of these watermelons, a traditional Mexican symbol for life and the thereafter.

One final note: While Rivera is the foremost of the great muralistas, having left a formidable body of grand works, and a name that tops the list of famous Mexican painters, Frida has left some astonishing art objects herself. Once her possessions were unlocked after those 50 years, conservators were able to assemble much of her wardrobe and put it on display. There was a traveling show that left Mexico for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, with an ancillary exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Her clothing choices, taken from traditional Mexican dress from the region of Tejuantepec, accented by her exception jewelry and hair ornaments have become an art treasure themselves.

Frida Kahlo’s dresses on display in Mexico City. lisawallerrogers.file.wordpress.com Hover over image to magnify.

Along with the clothing that was so coloful and unique, which she used to express her identity, as well as to cover her many braces and her damaged right leg, is her family home, La Casa Azul, which is now the Frida Kahlo Museum. The rambling house was the creation of her father, a photographer from Germany. However, after his death and when Frida and Diego remarried in 1940, the couple moved in, together for a while, and painted the house cobalt blue, as well as creating a garden which they filled with pre-Columbian art. Though Rivera would create his own home in a different location, he would return to La Casa Azul from time-to-time, just as Frida visited him in his new home. The house now contains the memorabilia of her life there, paintings by both Kahlo and Rivera, photographs and furnishings. It is one of the most visited museums in Mexico City.

La Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home in Mexico City, now a museum. architecturaldigest.com Hover over image to magnify.

Articles used for this post are as follows and images are used in accordance with Fair Use Policy and linked to the appropriate websites:

“Diego and Frida: A Smile in the Middle of the Way” International Photography Hall of Fame, iphf.org

“Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Portrait of a Complex Marriage” by Kelly Grovier, bbc.com

“The Last Painting of Diego Rivera,” jungcurrents.com

“Unlocking the Hidden Life of Frida Kahlo,” by Lindsay Baker, bbc.com

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Wines for Valentine’s: Gifts to Make it Sparkle.

Pink Champagne for Valentine’s Photo from pixabay.com

So the big day of romance is coming. Yes, Valentine’s Day is on its way, and there are things you can do to make it extra special. One can always go the easy route and just get a bottle of your special person’s favorite wine. If you add some flowers, even one red rose, you get a Pass Without Honors. However, we all know that a passing grade is just one step up from failing, so let’s look beyond that, shall we?

WINE AND CHOCOLATE

Wine and Chocolate Photo credit to WineSpectator.com

Not unlike Frida and Diego, wine and chocolate can be difficult. While there are sommeliers who simply will not go there, as red wine and chocolate can turn into the Battle of the Tannins, leaving your taste buds exhausted as each tannin-filled bite or sip tries to cancel out the other, it is still possible to make this combination work. Wine Spectator gives the ABCs of how to pair these two (click link above). The main advice is to pair like with like. So if you have a chocolate with a taste of berries to it, pair it with a wine that also has those fruity notes. They go on to list dessert wines that pair well with chocolate. Those of you who follow OfArtandWine already know of Vin Santo, a wine made from trebbiano grapes that are dried on straw or cane mats for four months before fermentation and aging (ofartandwine.com). Vin Santo goes well with chocolates because of its notes of honey and caramel that coordinate well with the sweet of the chocolate.

Estelle Tracy in her article “Five Myths About Pairing Wine and Chocolate” (37chocolates.com) takes on the most common assumptions, like red wine and chocolate are a natural pairing, and its opposite, never pair red wine and dark chocolate. She gives sound advice. Needless to say with all the varieties of red wines and chocolates, there are bound to be some disastrous mismatches. If you really are going to get into chocolates to spice up the wine you give your honey, for sure take a look at this amusing video by Madeline Puckette of Wine Folly. She not only “goes there,” but she returns with valuable information you can use. See “Wine and Chocolate” youtube.com

COME FLY WITH ME…

A Flght of Wine cozymeal.com

If you are planning a Grade A evening, with dinner at a special restaurant, make sure to see if they offer flights of wine. A flight of wine is a group of 3-4 different wines that may focus on a certain theme that matches well with the food. If you arrange this, do find out which wines are to be served and find out a bit more about them. The information is good to know and will certainly impress your special date. Restaurants serving flights of wine are not as rare as it might seem, as P.F. Chang’s, for instance, in their quest to develop their wine list, has served flights of wine designed to go with Chinese food. If that sounds interesting, call your local P.F. Chang’s to see if it does this. Or you can be brave and set up your own wine flight to go with that luxurious meal you are going to prepare. For a great guide to the possible combinations, look at the cozymeal.com website or go to winefolly.com, which has “12 Wine Flight Ideas for Beginners.” You will see that you can focus on the varieties of one type of wine, say Chardonnay, or you can compare Old World and New World versions of the same wine, or compare champagne to prosecco. There are lots of manageable possibilities that allow you to create a fun wine flight tasting.

LIVING IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

A Wine Tasting freepik.com

Now, here is one that can be done in a variety of ways. Yes, you can go to your local wine merchant, select the wines and get the information on each, prepare the meal, and have friends over to celebrate the day. However, and sadly it is a bit too late for this particular special day, you can have virtual wine tastings, where you order the wines in advance and schedule a Zoom session with a sommelier to guide you through the tasting. Never say that the Pandemic was an ill wind that blew no one any good. It has spawned a whole new industry of distance learning for all kinds of subjects, including wine.

One of the companies that has a wide selection of items is InGoodTaste.com, which offers gifts of wine flights, as well as Curated Collections. The Curated Wine Tasting Flights present 6-8 single serving glasses of wine with the appropriate information to guide you through your tasting. However, you also have the possibility of booking a virtual wine tasting in which the wine is ordered several weeks in advance and a Zoom session is scheduled. From there you have only to gather your friends or whomever you wish to share the tasting with, have the wines ready to be tasted and Zoom at the appropriate time. This is definitely something to check out (ingoodtaste.com) .

The Girl with the Wine Glass, Johannes Vermeer, 1659-1660.

Sometimes it takes a doctor to get to the heart of a matter. In the case of the effect that the smell of certain wines can have, Dr. Max Lake, a surgeon and winemaker from Australia, found that the scent of some wines mimic the smell of human pheromones. Red wines with their earthy sometimes leathery, musky smell are very like male pheromones, while white wines and sparkling wines, which have yeasty, doughy scents, are reminiscent of female pheromones. The good doctor says, “[t]he mature Cabernet Sauvignon has an essence which is as close to this natural sexual turn-on as one could hope for” (see “Seduction and Vermeer’s Girl with a Wine Glass” on ofartandwine.com). So do take that into consideration as you celebrate this holiday for lovers.

Whichever of these ways you use to celebrate Valentine’s, whether a simple present of wine, a fancy dinner with wine, experiencing a flight of wine, or a wine flight tasting, drink responsibly, and thoroughly enjoy the holiday.

Grosses bises (as the French say, “big kisses”) from Of Art and Wine and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and    CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2022

COMING SOON: Richard Mayhew: Painted Love Poems For The Earth, plus Black-American Vintners.

Shot in studio Master of Rhapsody by Richard Mayhew

Richard Mayhew, who is Black and Native-American, is a painter of landscapes with colors that sing poetic songs of his love for the land, its colors, its shapes, its shadows. His struggles to get the art world to understand his lyrical, abstracted landscapes have been epic, but finally his message has been received well. Mayhew’s struggles have not been unlike those of Black-American vintners, yet they also have their success stories. Come find out about both.

“The Three Great Ones” Mexican Muralistas and Wine in Baja.

Maya civilization, Mexico, 9th century A.D. Reconstruction of Bonampak frescoes. Room 1 Procession of Musicians. Hover over image to magnify.

When Diego Rivera first saw these murals, he wept. The archeological discovery of Bonampak’s murals (of course, the local Lacondones always knew of them) was a wonderful find for Mexican and Mesoamerican history. The Temple of the Murals, done c. 790 A.D. for King Chan Muan to celebrate a military victory and show off his lineage of sons (all three shown dancing) was the missing link which proved what 20th century muralists, Rivera and Orozco, had been claiming. Mural painting was a native Mexican tradition of which they, the modern muralistas, were just the continuation.

The 20th century in Mexico began with revolution. One hundred years exactly after Father Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores to rally people to rebel against Spanish rule, Mexico once again reshaped itself. After ten years of upheaval, General Alvaro Obregón restored order, became president, and began to reunite the country. Part of his effort to do this involved creating a new identity for the Mexican people, one where their long history, culture, and values were shown and respected. To do this he called upon the great painters (in fact, Rivera was called to come back from Europe) to paint great murals to communicate to the populace the achievements of the revolution and call upon them to contemplate those achievements as well. These painters, known now as “Los tres grandes” (The Three Great Ones), were Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siquieros. These artists created a movement that not only shaped art in Mexico but also had a powerful influence in the U.S.

The Revolution, a detail, David Alfaro Siquieros, painted in Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. Hover over image to magnify.

David Alfaro Siquieros (1896-1974), though raised by his conservative grandparents, was someone who supported the ordinary working man, even when it caused him to be imprisoned for severe criticism of the Mexican government (1960-64). Though he was originally a friend of Diego Rivera, he broke off with the other artist, accusing him of being a sell-out, since Rivera became very famous painting murals in the U.S. for wealthy industrialists.

Siquieros was someone known to be an ideological absolutist, though at one point he was kicked out of the Communist Party. However, in later years (1967) he would win the Lenin-Stalin Peace Prize. His focus in painting was the use of the whole body when painting, as though painting were a sacred dance. This influenced Jackson Pollack, who became famous for his abstract expressionist drip paintings, which he worked upon while very physically moving about the painting.

David Alfaro Siquieros’ mural at UNAM, the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Hover over image to magnify.

In the piece above, one sees the grandness and force of Siquieros’ work. In this piece called La universidad al pueblo; el pueblo a la universidad (The University to the people; The People to the University), the forceful expression of those straight arms pointing forward with book and pens in hand gives one a good sense about the fierce determination of the artist to communicate the value of education to all who see this work.

Prometheus by josé Clemente Orozco, 1930 Pomona College, California. Hover over image to magnify.

José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) came from a family that lived on the edge of poverty before the Mexican Revolution. As a teen, he was inspired by seeing a political cartoonist at work and became interesting in how art could communicate big ideas. He became a painter of caricatures, though he also painted pictures showing the misery of the life around him. It was a hard-scrabble life with little attention paid to his talent. Unfortunately, life was made even harder when in 1904 to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, a fireworks mixture exploded damaging his left hand. The lack of immedidate medical attention left amputation as the only solution to save his life from the effects of gangrene.

For a short while in the early 1920s, he painted murals as part of the literacy campaign to help the Mexican people understand the effects of the revolution they had been through. However, he ultimately decided to go to the U.S. where he painted murals in Pomona College and the 24 panel piece called The Epic of American Civilization for Dartmouth College. Through his efforts in the U.S., he was able to return to Mexico in 1934 as a well-established artist.

Once in Mexico again, he created The People and Its Leaders for the Government Palace in Guadalajara, in his native state of Jalisco. His masterpiece would have to be the frescoes inside Guadalajara’s Hospicio Cabañas, which focus on the history of Mexico from pre-Columbian times through the Revolution.

That work is known as “The Sistene Chapel of the Americas” and the Hospicio is itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He was a driving force in reviving fresco painting, claiming as did Diego Rivera that mural painting was a native art form in Mexican culture.

Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Almeda Park by Diego Rivera in the Museo Mural in Mexico City diegorivera.org Hover over image to magnify.

The name Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is as momumental as the man was in physical size. Over six feet tall and weighing several hundreds of pounds, he was a towering figure, who saw in the mural painting of the Italian Renaissance, a period known for its gigantic frescoes, a tool that he could use to express his ideas on Mexican history in a format that he also felt was something native to Mexican culture. Having studied in Europe where he got to know many of the most famous painters of the 20th century, he returned to Mexico at the behest of the Mexican government to paint murals that helped redefine Mexican identity.

Rivera went to the U.S. in the 1930s where he had great success painting gigantic, epic paintings. Since the 1930s was a period in the U.S. when there were many public works sponsored by the government, Rivera’s work influenced many American painters. His own works appear in a number of cities, including inside the San Francisco Art Institute in the Diego Rivera Gallery. His commercial success prompted a falling-out with his friend and fellow muralista Siquieros, who felt Rivera had put his art in service to the bourgeoisie.

Photo credit ordovasart.com

Detail of Dream of a Sunday Afternoonin the Almeda Park by Diego Rivera, 1947. artsandculture.google.com click link to see expanded picture.

This painting has a fascinating history not just because it gives Rivera’s idea on the panorama of Mexican history, but because the physical painting itself has had an interesting journey. I was fortunate enough in the 1970s to see this painting in its original location, the Hotel del Prado, which is near the Alameda Park in Mexico City. It is 52 feet long, as you can see at diegorivera.org, and it is overwhelming, as befits such an intense combination of characters representing a turbulent history. And yes, it was in a hotel. However, not unlike Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, which graced a dining hall in a monastery, when both buildings were destroyed (WWII bombs for the monastery and the 1985 earthquake for the hotel), the last things standing were the two paintings. The Universe obviously appreciates art. The mural is now in the Museo Mural, which is next to the Alameda, the park where Rivera’s panorama of characters representing Mexico and its culture haunt the spirit of the place.

Photo of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Photo Credit biography.com

While we normally think of movie stars as having legendary, tempetuous love lives, these two artists stand toe-to-toe with Taylor and Burton when it comes to drama, private and public. Their relationship, in which they finally wound up living in two separate houses that were joined (in Puerto Vallarta, Taylor and Burton had two houses joined by a bridge), will be the subject of the next post on Of Art and Wine that will look at how they each handled a very special painting subject. For now, it can be said that along with his fellow muralistas, Rivera revived the painting of frescoes in modern architecture. Rivera in particular is also famous for using modern figures and imagery to express Mexican history and cultural identity, and perhaps he was right when he claimed that mural painting is an art native to Mexico.

A Copy of the Murals of the royals of Bonampak from the Temple of the Murals by artist Elelicht commons.wikimedia.org

So we return to those murals in Bonampak. King Chan Muan’s celebration of his lineage on the finely painted walls of The Temple of Murals did not secure its continued existence. By 820 A.D., just 30 years after this great show of power and ostentation, Bonampak, along with the rest of the Classical Maya sites were abandoned to the forest. However, his temple murals with walls that often sparkle with the subtle blue of azurite from far-off Arizona passed the torch from Mexico’s distant past to its modern manifestation of mural painting.

Images are either in public domain or used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of critique, review, and discussion.

Sources for this article:

“José Clemente Orozco,” biography.com

“Jose Clemente Orozco,” artnet.com

“Diego Rivera, his Life and Art,” diegorivera.org

“Diego Rivera,” biography.com

“David Alfaro Siquieros” theartstory.org

“David Alfaro Siquieros,” famouspainters.net

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Wine in Baja California

Glass of wine in vineyard Valle de Guadalupe unsplash.com

It was Juan de Grijalva, one of Hernán Cortez’s men, who first lifted a glass of wine with some of Montezuma’s emissaries, and thus Mexico’s on again, off again relationship with wine began. If you have read the Of Art and Wine piece “Bonampak’s Temple of the Murals and Mayan Drinks” ofartandwine, then you know that the Maya had their own wonderful drinks made of fragrant hibiscus and other tropical ingredients. In fact, grapes did grow in pre-Columbian Mexico, but they seem to have been strongly acidic, though the juice was combined with honey and fruits to create something tolerable to the taste.

In this 18th century version of a painting done in the 1500s, one sees the stern stuff that this infamous conquistador was made of. As wine was a part of Spanish culture, it traveled on the ships that came to the New World. Along with the conquistadores came the different Catholic religious orders, among them the Franciscans and Dominicans, who of course used wine for sacramental purposes, but also to make money.

At first the cultivation of grapes and making of wine was something encouraged by King Charles I, as the new Spanish arrivees found it necessary and economical to grow their own grapes and make wine. Cortez, himself, commanded that thousands of acres of vineyards be created. The planting of the vineyards served to turn the dry desert landscape into useable land. There was even the creation of a variety of grape called, liked the Spanish who were born in the New World rather than in Spain, Creole (criollo). However, that was not to last, as by the time of King Charles II, Spain feared that the production of the New World vineyards would undercut the prices of the wines made in Spain. Cultivation of the grape was forbidden, except for strictly religious ceremonial needs.

Mexico’s environment of which much is below the 30th degree parallel is not well suited to the growing of grapes. However, around 1843, Dominican monks found this wonderful place in the Baja Peninsula, which like the lands of Alta California (the California in the U.S.), had a climate that favored wine grapes. Its altitude, the evening fog and cool breezes from the Pacific, and the warm sunny days are as effective in La Baja as they are in La Alta when it comes to growing grapes.

Vineyards in Baja California barrons.com

The endeavor started well, but the grape vines were attacked by phylloxera, a fungus that nearly wiped out vineyards in Europe in the late 1800s. This was followed by the Mexican Revolution, which was 10 years of upheaval and instability. The industry tried to struggle back into existence in the 1920s, but the lack of wine-making knowledge and proper equipment created wines that were yellow, acidic, and not particularly appealing. It was not until the 1970s when Pedro Domecq, a maker of some of the very finest brandy, revived high-end wine from the Valle de Guadalupe.

These days, along with its booming brandy production (Mexico’s Emperador is the world’s largest company producing brandy), the country produces wines of better and better quality. Mostly blends of various grapes from Europe, these wines are beginning to make their mark in the world of wine. Gardiner Navarro in his article, “Mexican Wine is Getting More Popular – And a Lot Better” (barrons.com) states, “In Mexico’s west coast, Valle de Guadalupe (or Valle, as locals call it) has recently emerged as one of the most exciting up-and-coming wine destinations.” Its close proximity to San Diego, only a 2-hour trip, has caused a small wine tourist industry to spring up. There are day trips that leave the wonderful, colorful San Diego Train Station at 9:00 am and return the visitors there by 8:00 pm. the same day (sandiegowineytours.com). However, there are tours for those who want to spend a couple of days in this peaceful valley. Baja Wine Tours offers private and public tours of varying lengths, again from San Diego. Consult their website for some wonderfully enticing photos of the Valle de Guadalupe and its offerings, including glorious food.(bajawinerytours.com).

A Seafood Platter that goes great with wine.

In speaking about food and wines, Baja produces some very nice Chardonnay. It also produces Temperanillo, which goes so very well with the earthy flavor of tamales. This brings up the topic of food pairings of Mexican food and wines from any of the wine growing regions of the world. One might normally think of a cold beer or a frosty, salty margarita to go with Mexican food. However, enchiladas go very nicely with Riesling; carnitas with Pinot Noir; Pinot Gris with chicken tacos; sparkling wines with cerviche, and Syrah with mole. While Baja may not produce all of those wines – yet, it certainly is coming up in the world of wine. Keep your eye on the Mexican wine industry.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and    CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2022

Coming Soon: Frida and Diego: Art, Love, and Watermelons, plus Wines for Valentine’s.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera uwm.edu

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were rock stars before Rock. Kahlo, first seen as just “the wife of Rivera” turned out to be one of the most notable female artists in history. Rivera, famous for his grand murals and their influence on painting among artists in the U.S., was the great love and bain of Kahlo’s existence. Star-crossed, perhaps, their final communication to one another was in the form of paintings of watermelons. And for the rest of us lovers, some suggestions for wine to serve or give on Valentine’s.

The Chill Cool of Canadian Painting, and Wine Bars in Toronto.

I remember when I first returned for a long stay (3 months) in Canada after living for eight years in Provence, where yes the chilly Mistral blows, and there is sometimes even snow. However, in Toronto it was May, the merry month, so I went down to Kew Beach on Lake Ontario. A cap on my head, several layers of sweaters, jeans, socks and closed-in shoes, I sat on a bench in the sun. Supposedly, it was 70 degrees. As I shivered, I noticed the Canadians walking down the boardwalk in shorts, T-shirts, sleeveless garments, bare arms taking in the sun. There was even a lady on the beach in a bikini! Just when I thought there must indeed be something wrong with me, I noticed that none of the trees had leaves yet. The buds of the leaves were tightly wrapped shut, still fearful to open up. I sent a photo back to friends in France, saying, “The limbs of the trees and the limbs of the people are all bare. Qu’est que ça veux dire?” To me, it indicated that Canadians have a special relationship with the cold. I began to observe how that plays itself out in their painting.

Ayesha by Valerie Palmer, 201 4. Loch Gallery

Not many artists do landscape painting and figurative painting, but Valerie Palmer excels at combining both. The Toronto-born artist got her B.F.A. degree in Winnipeg, then moved to the far northern shore of Lake Superior, where she lives and paints. Tom Smart in his essay on her work,”Valerie Palmer: Portraits, Memories and Landscapes,” speaks of the passive poses and disengaged contemplation of her figures as part of what he calls here “mood poems.” In fact he says, “Palmer is a visual poet whose form is the painted emblem.”

What I see is the dissonance caused by this calm figure in a summer dress, standing before this partially frozen landscape. It fits into what artist and author John Seed calls “distupted realism,” in which elements not normally thought of as being together can be together, because in the universe everything is connected. Here these two strongly different elements are collaged by the movement of color from the icey blue of the lake, to the paler green waters near the shore, to the sandy tan of the beach, the deep green of the trees, and the soft reds of the dress – cold to warm.

Most importantly for me, the fine drawing of the figure is very crisp not unlike the way Botticelli did his figures, where the line is very important, moreso than the shading. The ice behind the figure is very precisely drawn, showing the sharp broken edges, edges that can cut. The distracted gaze of the young woman and the frigid background, both so precisely rendered, make one feel the cold emanating from the painting, while at the same time giving us a flush of warmth in the figure of Ayesha.

Journey by Valerie Palmer, 2004 Loch Gallery

Here in another of Palmer’s paintings, we find the same dislocation of elements. These young people who wait for the train (which oddly looks more like a freight train than a passenger one) are dressed in indoor clothes. The young woman, although surrounded by snow, sits on a bench without any trace of snow on it. Her pose is upright and rigid, as is that of the young man who stands before the viewer with his arms folded. The two characters share the same physical space but do not seem to be connected, as both stare into the middle distance of their own private worlds. They chill. We viewers do too, as the cold leaves the confines of the painting to invade the atmosphere around us. This is what I mean by the chill cool of Canadian painting. Yes, it leaves us physically feeling the cool, but its disruption of our normal sense of reality also leaves us with an intellectually “cool” painting, very modern and very with it.

Still Life with Porcelain, Klaas Hart, 2006 Loch Gallery.

Klaas Hart is another Toronto native, who studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), went on to an apprenticeship with renowned artist Hank Helmantel in the Netherlands, where he refined his painting technique. In looking at the painting above, one sees very precisely rendered items done in cool blues, silvery gray, and off-white with a simple bluish-gray backpanel and a putty-colored foreground surface. The artist picks up the putty color in the trim around the envelops, in the interior coloring of the sea shell and on the stand for the blue dish. Even the glass funnel changes the color of the supporting surface to a grayish-blue.

The feeling of the painting is very modern and a bit hard-edged, but at the same time is softened by the nostalgia represented by the old-fashioned envelops, the decorative sea shell, and the plain, rather classic design of the dishes. This odd collection of items, hard to see all together as one theme, is called simply Still Life with Porcelain. Yet, while the artist may have just gathered a random selection of items, most of which were porcelain, this variety of items hint at all sorts of things other than porcelain. Perhaps they represent something more metaphysical, like all time and no time. That in itself would relate to concepts in modern physics, in which travel at the speed of light (still impossible for us) would create the View from C (C as in C²) where infinite instances of time exist all occuring at once (The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch). That makes this a cool painting in terms of its colors and also in terms of its cool ideas.

Klaas Hart Garlic Painting Chardin’s Plums Claesz’ Roemer with Lemons

If we just stick to the use of the color palette, we can see how it compares with some famous still life paintings. The objects in Hart’s Garlic Painting are all in whitish gray, or silver against a deep blue-gray background. The support they sit on is once again a combination of a light putty and an indistinct tone of brown. When compared to the older paintings of masters like Chardin or Claesz, the precision in rendering is there, but it is Hart’s work which exists in a sharp, cool clarity rather than the warmer more natural colors in the other two paintings.

Fire Down On The Labrador by David Blackwood, 1980 etching and aquatint on paper. Art Gallery of Ontario ago.ca

Let’s not think that Canadian artists have no sense of humor, ironic though it may be at times. Take a look at the painting above. The icebergs are as perfect as nature can make them. They really are ice sculptures that tower above the water, while skillfully hiding 10 times that height underneath the waves. The night is black, and the moon, so tiny and far away, is full but sheds little light. The light comes from the burning ship. The masts indicate that it is most probably a whaler. We see the lifeboat with the crew adrift in the blackness of the artic waters. The scene is a desparate one.

Blackwood then takes us below those waves to see that what was terrible for the whalers was a stroke of good fortune for the whale, whose baleine plate shows as a type of wicked smile. It’s no wonder his book of prints is called Black Ice. As a Newfoundlander, Blackwood would know that the most treacherous ice is the black kind that blends with the color of the road or sidewalk, so you don’t know it is there until you go skidding in all directions. His work often shows the slippery sudden surprises in life.

Blackwood is a storyteller at heart, using the medium of printmaking to tell the seafaring stories of his native Newfoundland. His stories are of the people but also of the animals. Often, as in the print above, when the animals and the people collide, the people don’t always win. Fire Down on the Labrador is a cold painting for sure (will you ever forget the sharp crystalline blue-violet of those craggy icebergs?), but in his use of irony, the artist is not cold hearted.

It would not be truly Canadian to leave out Patrick Amiot’s ceramic sculpture, Hip Check. Amiot is one of Canada’s most famous sculptors. He takes inspiration from daily life and all things common to it: cars, farmers, fishermen, street scenes, old trucks, interiors, and hockey, of course. The rough surface of the base of the piece looks very much like ice that has been skated on. The joyful grimace on the face of the player who has managed to check an opponent almost makes you hear the fans roar. Fun and iconic, it’s a Canadian thing and once again, way cool.

Loch Gallery

I admit to being a proud graduate of Canada’s leading, and one of the world’s finest institutions of higher learning, the University of Toronto. I remember those Canadian winters of my youth and the chill in some of those May days of my more recent visits. I find that Canadian painters go for precision and perfection in their work that often allows a cool breeze of crystalline clarity to float off their paintings and into the minds of the viewer. Vive Canada!

The art presented in this article is used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for the purposes of critique, review and discussion. For more on the artists, visit these websites: Valerie Palmer Klass Hart and David Blackwood.

Sources include:

The Best of Canadian Contemporaries, catalog Loch Gallery

Black Ice: David Blackwood’s Prints of Newfoundland. ago.ca

“David Blackwood 81 Artworks” artsy.net

“Portraits, Memories and Landscapes,” an essay by Tom Smart printed in the show catalog Valerie Palmer Paintings, Loch Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Wine Bars in Toronto!

Sommelier pours pinot gris wine in glasses for degustation

First, what are wine bars? Basically they are a type of “pub” that focuses on wine rather than spirits or beer. Wine bars are the perfect set-up for both enjoying a selection of wines but also learning about them. One of the joys of wine tasting is a real degustation, that French word that prepares you to taste something special. Notice here the classic long-stemmed wine glass that allows you to hold the glass by the stem, so as not to have your hand warming the wine. The amount in the glass is just a touch across the bottom of the glass. Remember, you are tasting, not having a glass with a full meal. The long mellow dark brown of the bar itself is a classic reminder of winecellars and barrels of flavorful wines fermenting and aging on their way to the moment when we have the pleasure of tasting them. Food that compliments the wine is available, but the focus is always on the wine, served, of course, in the appropriate glass. To get a good understanding of all that makes a good wine bar, “Qualities of a Great Wine Bar” is the article to ground oneself with (pinstackbowl.com). Since the focus of this blog post is Canada, and my old hometown (if only temporarily), Toronto, let’s see a few of what the city has to offer.

A series of Flights of Wine. A Flight allows you to taste three different wines.

Toronto is a city of neighborhoods and areas that have certain specialties. The Financial District’s specialty is keeping Toronto as the economic engine of Canada, and being that, one would expect that any wine bar there would be exclusive and very expensive. Au contraire mes chers amis. Reds Wine Tavern, located in First Canadian Place (still Toronto’s tallest building), does cater to the high-powered suits (the TV show was filmed down the street at Adelaide Place). The prices are still manageable, especially around 4:00 o’clock when select bottles are available for favorable prices. There are butcher boards of charcuterie and cheese or you can go for a full meal, with nothing topping $40. The wine cellar has 350 bottles, and there is a sommelier at your service. (Reds Wine Tavern) Please note, that Toronto has on-and-off closures of restaurants for indoor dining because of COVID restrictions.

If you want some consistency as you tour the city, then Cibo Wine Bar is for you. With three locations (King St. West, Yonge Street in Midtown, and Yorkville) you can take advantage of a variety of decor, from high tech stainless, to exposed brick walls and butcher block wooden tables. Each specializes in Italian foods to go with the wines. Trendy Yorkville has many outdoor patios that allow for good people-watching, and Cibo’s fits right in with its own patio, a complement to its industrial style interior. Most important is the collection of 2500 bottles of wine. Cibo Wine Bar

As was mentioned before, Toronto is a city of neighborhoods, and one of the ones that has been trending is Leslieville. To the east of the downtown core, just beyond Riverdale, Leslieville is a locality of small shops, galleries, and restaurants that leave the “suited” atmosphere of downtown behind, in favor of a casual, relaxed, “being at home” feeling of a lovely neighborhood. Chez Nous is listed as being near Leslieville, though from the map it looks to me like Riverdale. However, as the two neighborhoods lie cheek-by-jowl, the main thing is that it is a cozy wine bar that specializes in Canadian wines. Yes, there is a wine industry in Canada. The snacks are simple but the owner, Laura Carr, knows the wines well, as she has visited all of those Ontario wineries. To get a bit of the Chez Nous experience, look at this little video on youtube.com.

If you want a different sort of neighborhood, head west out along Queen Street West, where you can find La Flaca, a Spanish themed wine bar serving tapas lafalca.ca. Moving on toward the direction of High Park ones finds Clandestino Wine Bar. It is indeed a bit hidden inside another location, the Common People Shop. However, it is considered a hidden jewel Clandestino Wine Bar.

Bar Mercurio, near the University of Toronto at 270 Bloor Street West

Of course, I am partial to things close to my alma mater, and Bar Mercurio is a favorite of mine. Though it is ostensibly just a bar, the food is delicious, and there is a good selection of wine to go with. And if you believe as writer and local expert, Courtney Sunday, does “that the only meal without wine is breakfast,” you can cross the street and a few steps further down to 321 Bloor West to L’Espresso Bar Mercurio, which serves wonderful coffee and fabulous pastries in a classy Italian environment.

L’Espresso Bar Mercurio comes with food and lots of Italian atmosphere. Photo credits to customers: Chelsea S. Sylvia Maria D. and Angela S. fr.foursquare.com

Just as there are “8 million stories in the Naked City,” there are many wine bars in Toronto. This post only gives a few of them. However, it is easy to see that whether you are downtown, go east along Queen St., go north along Yonge, or go west toward High Park, there will be a wine bar to suit you.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Coming Soon: “The Three Great Ones” Mexican Muralistas and Wines in Baja.

Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central by Diego Rivera, 1946

From the Mayan murals of Bonampak to the great 20th century muralistas (Rivera, Siquieros, and Orozco), Mexico expresses itself well in this grand style, and it is not to be left out when it comes to wine production either.

Happy Holidays from Of Art and Wine!

Of Art and Wine normally posts on the 25th of each month, but this year it is time for a little down time. I do want to thank all of those of you who read the posts that go up on the 10th and the 25th of each month. I enjoy reading your comments and responding to as many as I can. I am looking forward to a great 2022, full of interesting art subjects to present to you and delicious wines to explore, but today, I am enjoying Christmas.

With that I will leave you with a Christmas wish for peace, joy, love, and comfort, all nicely represented in this beautiful painting by Colorado Springs artist, Lee Murphy. It depicts one of the lovely old mansions in a historic part of the city. In the quiet of a deep snowfall on a winter’s night, this house has a warm inner light that says, home. Merry Christmas!

Old North End by Lee Murphy

To find out more about this artist, see “Lee Murphy: Fine Art and Man-Made Things” in the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com and visit his website leemurphyfineart.com

Oh, and Happy New Year, too!

Photo by Billy Huynh on Unsplash.

Celebrate, but drink responsibly. See you on January 10th, 2022!

Coming in January: The Chill Cool of Canadian Painting

Aysha by Valerie Palmer

It doesn’t get cooler than Valerie Palmer. Find out about her work and other modern Canadian painters in the next Of Art and Wine post. To preview her work go to artnet.com

Photo taken by M. Vernelle. Image used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of critique and review.

Image of Old North End used with the permission of the artist, Lee Murphy.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Peace and the Apocalpyse in Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity, plus Wine Cocktails

Mystic Nativity by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1500 Hover over image to magnify.

“This picture, at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy, I, Alessandro, in the half-time after the time, painted, according to the eleventh [chapter] of Saint John, in the second woe of the Apocalypse, during the release of the devil for three and a half (years)…” Botticelli’s inscription on Mystic Nativity translated from the Greek.

Many of us remember the millenium anxiety produced as the year 2000 approached. Fears ranged from the terror of Y2K making our computerized systems fail to the actual end of the world, caused either by the Rapture or a stray asteroid sending us the way of the dinosaurs. However, January 1st passed, and the sun still rose in the east. Life settled back into its usual rhythm of the humdrum spiked by shocking events, general anxiety balanced with personal ambition, and most of us still held the hope of dying peacefully in bed after a rich and full life. Amen.

These sentiments are hardly new as variations of them were rampant in Europe as the year 1000 approached. The next bout of end-of-the-world fever struck in the years just before 1500, and one of the cities that was most caught up in it was Florence, Italy. It was the High Renaissance, and Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnificent, ruled the city when in 1490 an awkward looking, hawk-nosed, Dominican monk arrived. He took a tiny cramped cell in the Convent of San Marco, which had been converted to a monastery by the leader of a local group of Dominicans, a man originally named Guido di Pietro but who is known to us as Fra Angelico. The newly arrived monk had lived in and around Florence before but had drifted away in 1487. However, his return to Florence was no accident. He was a man on a mission that would bowl over the whole city. His name was Girolamo Savonarola.

Savonarola was disgusted by the excesses of Florence and began to preach against what he saw as decadence. Lorenzo de Medici tried to control the rhetoric of this angry preacher but by 1492 found himself on his deathbed repenting his own sins to this monk. Savonarola’s power really took hold in 1494 when the city was threatened by 10,000 French troops led by the French king Charles VIII. Savonarola persuaded the French to leave peacefully, thus gaining a loyal following in Florence.

His preaching against luxury and excess produced his most outrageous move, the Bonfire of the Vanities, which took place in 1497. He convinced the people of Florence to burn their most valuable possessions, fancy clothes, jewels, furniture, paintings, and any other items of excessive value. Unfortunately for us, one of the most famous painters of that era and someone who was a favorite of the Medici threw some of his own paintings into the bonfire. That painter was Sandro Botticelli.

As usual for fanatics, Savonarola ran afoul of too many powerful people and wound up being hung and then burned in the very plaza where his great bonfire had taken place. Yet he left many converts, one of whom seems to have been Botticelli. Botticelli had been the painter who brought the ancient myths and legends into visual reality as the Florentine Renaissance enjoyed the reemergence of the classics from antiquity. His Venus in The Birth of Venus (1484-1485) was the first female nude that was not a religious figure (normally Eve in the Garden of Eden) painted since ancient times. His thinly clad Graces danced about the goddess Flora to celebrate the coming of spring in Primavera (1478-1482). He painted Venus and Mars (1483) as they rested after a tryst, and captured the beauty of Simonetta Vespucci as Athena and the Queen of Beauty (1475). Yet something about 1500 led him to believe that “the end was nigh.”

A particular Bible verse, Isiah 62:3, spoke of a period of tribulation that would last about three and a half years or so, after which the Day of Judgement would come. Things were in such a sorry state in 1500 that the artist calculated that 1504 would be the end. Admittedly 1504 turned out to be a truly bad year for Botticelli, as his pupil and close companion, the painter Filippino Lippi, died. However, in 1500, Botticelli knew nothing about the loss of Lippi. He just thought he was living in the “time in between time – the tribulation.” With that in mind, let’s look at Mystic Nativity.

The upper portion of Mystic Nativity. Hover over image to magnify

In this upper portion of Mystic Nativity, a group of twelve angels dance in a circle. They carry olive branches, which have scrolls attached, and as the circle dances around and around, crowns sway with the movement. The angels dance in a sky of gold that has descended, covering the normal blue of an earthly sky with that pure incorruptable substance. With that, Botticelli uses his skills in goldsmithing to harken back to the paintings of the medieval period when gold was used for backgrounds in religious paintings because it was untarnishable, thus a good way to represent the purity of heaven.

The scrolls that unfurl from the olive branches contain the 12 privileges of the Virgin Mary, though at present, the writing can only be seen with infrared light. On the roof of the little hut sheltering the nativity scene are three angels dressed in white, red and green, which respectively represent Faith, Charity, and Hope, also known as the Theological Virtues. Within the iconography of Christianity, this celebratory dance can be seen as the promise of peace that came with the birth of Christ and which would one day (soon in Botticelli’s mind) reign again after the Second Coming. Of course, before the Second Coming would be the Apocalypse, the end of the world as Botticelli knew it. This painting seems to be a balancing of those two major prophesied events.

Sandro Botticelli was known for the charm of his decorative painting, which made his wonderful work in the 1480s so appealing and the favorites of his patrons, the Medici. One sees traces of that style in the dancing angels when compared to his Graces in Primavera.

Primavera by Sandro Botticelli, 1478-1482. Hover over image to magnify

However, as Savonarola’s preachings took hold, Botticelli’s art became rougher, more crude, and suffused with the fear of the approaching end time. Normally known for being jovial and outgoing, the artist became melancholic, depressed, and more and more isolated. As the Medici lost power in Florence, his commissions fell away, and in fact his name ultimately disappeared entirely, until he was rediscovered in the 19th century when there was a revival of interest in Florentine arts. Yet, with all of the troubles of his time and the millennial fear of apocalypse, the artist once again turned to his original aesthetic to create a vision of peace and harmony that would vanquish the forces of evil.

Detail of Mystic Nativity showing the nativity scent, Hover over image to magnify.

Here in a detail of the actual nativity scene, much of the imagery is traditional and comes forth from the middle ages. The cow and the donkey are present to indicate the idea of a stable, though this one is set in a forest, as stated in some of the gospels. Mary is a large figure that looms over the child. She and the child and even Joseph to a certain extent are larger than the other figures, indicating their central importance in the story. Mary is presented in adoration of the child as was envisioned in the 14th century by St. Bridget of Sweden. (Bridget of Sweden also envisioned the crucifixion of Christ, which replaced the imagery of Christ as the Good Shepherd, which was a common theme in early Christian art such as that found in Ravenna.) Joseph is on the sidelines, discreetly hunched toward the child. Interestingly, the wise men on the left, though kings, are not dressed in finery nor are any sumptuous gifts present. They seem as humble as the shepherds on the right. Angels are in direct contact with both the shepherds and the kings, touching them and pointing in the direction of the nativity.

This contact between the angels and the humans seems a harbinger of peace and understanding. That message continues in the segment that is just under the section with the nativity.

Detail of Mystic Nativity in which the Virtues in the form of angels embrace humans. Hover over image to magnify.

Here the Virtues, in the form of angels, embrace humans, kissing them on the cheek. In the background and on the sides, grayish winged demons head for the cracks in the earth to hide themselves. It is rather like what happens when cities go through a terrible period of crime and danger but change when ordinary citizens feel empowered to take back the streets by showing their overwhelming presence. Perhaps that is what Botticelli intended with this painting, to empower himself and anyone looking at it to know that bad times will pass and things will change for the better.

This painting is unusual in other ways. It is done in oil on canvas. Botticelli was well known for his paintings in tempera on wooden panels. Perhaps the personal nature of this piece prompted him to choose that medium, as it allows the canvas to be rolled up for storage or even hidden. However, most particularly, it is something of a painted sermon. Yes, it is much influenced by Savonarola’s preachings, but it seems also to have been a personal communication of Botticelli’s. Perhaps, originally, this was just his way of presenting his private thoughts, and how appropriate for a great painter to represent his ideas in this fashion. The painting remained hidden for over 300 years, while other works by the artist were known, if not celebrated as they are today. This painting seems to be the artist’s plea for peace and reconciliation stemming from his fears of a coming apocalypse. And it is a very personal statement, for it is the only one of his paintings that he actually signed.

Articles used for this blog post:

Mystic Nativity/Sandro Botticelli. nationalgallery.org.uk

Art in Tuscany: Sandro Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity travelingintuscany.com

Personal art history notes from classes by Mme. Chantal Duqueroux, Avignon, France.

For a particularly in-depth view of this painting, the history behind it, the life of Botticelli, and further discussion of the mysteries within the painting, take a look at “Sandro Botticelli and the Mystic Nativity” kellybagdanov.com.

Images used in this blog post are of art work in Public Domain.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Wine Cocktails for the Holidays!

Winter Wine Recipes and Cocktails Photo by Alison Anton unsplash.com

We all know how refreshing a chilled glass of wine punch can be in the heat of the summer. Well, wine punch does not go away just because a few snowflakes fall. Naturally, one thinks of mulled wine. You know the routine: heat up some red wine, throw in a few spices, some citrus fruit slices, and a cinnamon stick. While there are last minute mulled wine recipes (see a good one here liquor.com), mulled wine does have a long history which you can read about right here on OfArtandWine.com “Let It Snow: Snow Paintings and Mulled Wine.”

What gets really interesting are the national variations on this theme. The Swedes know a thing or two about cold weather and how to knock the chill off. For them it is Glögg. This winter warmer has more than just red wine and citrus. It uses cardamon, ginger, cloves, vodka and port or madeira plus sugar along with the cinnamon and orange zest.

Photo credit to Marcus Nilsson on bonappetit.com

The Germans and the Austrians have their own twist on this age-old formula and theirs is called Gluehwein. This one is known to skiers as an aprés ski drink as it really finishes off the day. In fact its name means “glow wine.” The recipe is the classic one for mulled wine, but if you really want to glow, add in some rum. Have this one when you are somewhere safe and sound, and ready to relax.

One last thing to consider when making these classic mulled wine drinks is the wine. Of course any red wine will work, but the one that comes up in so many recipes is Malbec. The Malbec grape is used in many of the Bordeaux blends and is really food friendly. It goes well with heavier foods like grilled beef, burgers, or chorizo pizza. It has flavors that range from oak, tobacco, baking spices and chocolate to fruit flavors of blackberry, black cherry and plum.

HEY, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE COCKTAILS!

Behold! The New York Sour. Photo credit acouplecooks.com

This baby got started in Chicago in the 1800s and is mixology art and science. The science is what to make the whiskey sour with. At acouplecooks.com, they go for high quality Bourbon, with some maple syrup and lemon juice. The art is floating the red wine over the top and getting the little lemon peel to curl in just the right way. No wonder New York picked this up, took what had originally been called a Continental Sour and put it’s own name on it, hence the New York Sour.

Floating a bit of red wine in the most artful way possible can give a Margarita a bit of added beauty. It only takes a half an ounce (no salt rim, please). This, the Devil’s Margarita, is but one of nine red wine cocktails found on liquor.com, where you can find anything from a traditional spritzer to mulled wine with Calvados or a new-fangled Sangaree with Beaujolais Nouveau, sloe gin, and apple brandy.

Winter Wine treats. Photo by Gaby Dyson on Unsplash.com

The blog at snowfarm.com has a particularly interesting warm possibility that involves chocolate, yes, that most wonderful of all sweets. It involves melting semi-sweet chocolate chips along with wine, vanilla, and sugar. You simply stir constantly until the chocolate melts and blends in, then serve. They also offer a winter twist on the Old Fashioned, so go get out the Bourbon again.

When it comes to fun and interesting wine drinks for the holidays or throughout the winter, you have a variety of choices. Drink them at Christmas in good company, around a cozy fire, and contemplate peace and harmony as the Mystic Nativity suggests.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Next: Of Art and Wine’s Holiday Wishes.

A Champagne Toast to You All! Photo by Kate Hliznitsova on unsplash.com

The Art of the Dining Table and Holiday Wines

Create the mood for fine dining by showing a beautiful table setting.

Table setting by homedesignlover.com

We all love sitting down to a good meal, immediately made better by a beautiful table setting. In fact, decorating a table, whether for dining or or other purposes, has taken on a special name: tablescape. Even with such changed terminology, one thing about human behavior, whether ancient or modern, is that it remains recognizably the same. People have always seen what the basics were and then improved upon them. Such has been the history of the accoutrements of dining, whether table, plates, utensils, or linens. From ancient times to the present, one can see how all this evolved.

When looking at what many of the ancients did, we see that basics still applied. Ancient Egyptians created chairs, tables, stools, beds and even poles and frames from which hung fine linen to surround their beds and keep the mosquitoes out. Pharaoh Khufu’s mother, Queen Hetepheres, left lovely bedroom furniture showing us what that might have looked like. We know a lot about the food that they ate, and what they drank (wine for the rich and beer for everybody), but not much about how it was served and consumed. It is known that the poor circled together, sitting on the floor where a huge bowl full of food was set in the middle. The gathered proceeded to eat with their fingers. Those with more money would have found it easier to be seated, but in what arrangement, it is not clear. However, it is known that the wealthy had finger bowls to rinse their fingers in, and water that had been boiled, for they had learned that Nile water made people very sick. I have not found any clear depiction of an Ancient Egyptian dining set up, but those who create Ancient Egyptian Revival furniture have carried forth the idea of what that ancient elegance might look like with a slight update.

This is an Ancient Egyptian Revival dining table. See charlieroe.com

The Romans also ate with their hands, though they had plates and serving dishes, as well as bowls for soup. They also had servants to wipe their greasy fingers as they reclined in comfort. Unfortunately, they had a penchant for using lead vessels to drink from, which may have also been one of the causes for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, as lead poisoning has rather serious consequences. The Romans had knives and spoons, but were not so keen on forks.

This silverware comes from Roman France, and yes, you see a bronze fork there. However, the Romans used forks more for cooking or spearing a piece of meat from a platter, rather than using it the way we do in modern times.

Of course, this completely disrupts the myth that forks only came to the Occident in the 10th century from Byzantium. Personally, I always liked the anachronistic presentation given in the film Beckett, where the heavily bearded, leather and fur-wearing barons of the court of King Henry II of England, were introduced to this frilly French thing, known as a fourchette (fork), which they promptly commenced to stab each other with. But no, that is Hollywood. History shows that merchants traveling from east to west in the 13th century circulated the use of forks. In those days, if you were worth anything, you had your very own eating utensils with you.

The Italians took that to a new height by introducing the cadena, a box for carrying one’s dining utensils. Catherine de Medici brought that custom to France in the 16th century. Given that human behavior has changed little, one can imagine the competition to have the finest looking set in the most wonderfully decorated box. This was especially true if you “sat above the salt,” a reference to the beautiful silver salt cellars that decorated the tables and marked off where the important people sat as opposed to those of lesser standing. The art of decorating the table was in full swing.

Chinese blue porcelain from 1000 – 1400 A.D. metmuseum.org

While the Occident moved relentlessly toward finer and finer dining experiences, the Chinese had already gotten around messy fingers and lead poisoning early on by inventing chopsticks (1200 B.C.), and porcelain dishes (Tang Dynasty, 618-907 A.D.). They had also mastered the knife and spoon early on, and had two-pronged forks for cooking as early as 2400 B.C.! That blue Chinese porcelain that so surprised the people of Europe was developed in the 13th century. A few centuries later in the 17th century when the Dutch were growing rich from trading in the Far East, they decided to make their own porcelain, known as Delft Blue. At the same time (around 1645), France’s sun king, Louis XIV, decided that France needed its own porcelain and created the Sévres factory to create fine porcelain objects, which are known for their beauty and craftsmanship right to the present day.

Delft Porcelain with a Dutch landscape and a Sévres vase from the time of Louis XV.

Of course, having wonderful things upon which to serve up rich meals led the Dutch to invent a genre of painting called the Banketje or Banquet painting in which they showed off their wealth in beautiful serving dishes and stemware on tables overladen with an abundance of fine things to eat. However, being good Protestants, they did not want to tempt fate, so they often showed the fruits and foods as half eaten, and the glasses of wine overturned. Often objects rested on the very edge of the table, as if about to fall into the darkness below. All of this was their way of showing that they knew well that all good things must end and that one must not become too proud. I still think they really enjoyed showing off, and the painters like Pieter Claesz must have loved showing their skills at painting such complicated scenes.

Pieter Claesz’ Still Life with a Turkey, 1627. Rijksmuseum artandculture.google.com

So finally as we arrive in the 1700s, the “need for the communal napkin” faded away and according to “The History of the Table Setting” mickeyslinen.com, the cloth napkin became popular and with it table manners. No more of this stabbing your neighbor with a fork business, oh no. It was time to sit up straight and chew with your mouth closed. Fancy, sparkling objects began to appear on the dining table as people, once again, wanted to show off their wealth, even hiring decorators to help them prepare elaborate tables for their guests. Flowers began to appear in the 1800s, along with other splashes of color in the form of table runners. By the 1900s, there were (and still are) tablescape competitions.

An entry in the tablescape competition at the L.A. County Fair. Photo by Richard Wong/Alamy

So here we are, centuries later, with the proceeds of centuries of work by ancestors from various continents. We are able to slap down a picnic meal on paper plates or a formal Thanksgiving feast for family and friends with the best “china,” flatware and cutlery in silver or gold, and crystal stemware for our wine. All is perfectly placed on a stunning linen tablecloth with matching napkins held in their decorated holders on a table punctuated by charmingly matched serving dishes, and of course, the flowers.

However, we can also have fun when we want to and express our artful fantasies in this rather unique genre of tablescape. I wonder what a Dutch master like Pieter Claesz would have thought of this creation?

The growing subculture of tablescaping in an exhibition/competition at the LA County Fair. A tablescape entry by Bonnie Overman. (Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Information for this post used the following sources:

“Ancient Egypt for Kids: Table Manners. egypt.mrdonn.org

“The Fiercely Precise World of Competitive Tablescaping” by Andy Wright, atlasobscura.com

“The History of Table Setting: A Timeline” mickeyslinen.com

“The History of Table Settings and Dining Etiquette,” The Richmond Times-Dispatch richmond.com

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Holiday Wines (made somewhat easy).

A Holiday Table from foodnetwork.com Photo credit Liliboas/Getty Images

The holidays are full of things to consider, lists of activities to accomplish, meals to plan, purchases to make, and on and on. Having a few tips on what wines to serve with which foods can help to take some of the pressure off.

Let’s start with the initial welcome. Here one can go in a variety of ways. A light still white wine, like an off-dry Riesling, is one that will go with any number of appetizers, for instance, a soft cheese like Brie or Camenbert baked in a pastry shell filled with that seasonal favorite, cranberries. The crisp but mild fruitiness in the taste of an off-dry Riesling blends well with the sweet/tart taste of the cranberry, as the off-dry has a bit less acid than dry Riesling but also is less sweet than many sweet versions of the wine.

If you simply have guests stopping by or arriving after having traveled distances to reach your home, you might want to go “old world” and greet them with a glass of Vin Santo and some biscotti (sweet Italian almond cookies). The Vin Santo is a traditional Italian “greeting” drink that will warm spirits and help guests settle in for a good conversation.

Holiday time is a time for toasting to good health, good fortune, and good friends, so naturally a nice champagne is called for. There are many choices here, but do remember that America also makes good champagne and yes, we call it by that name. Now depending upon how festive you wish to be, you might decide to serve a sparkling Shiraz, which has a deep red color that goes well with the Christmas season, stick with the pale golden version, or be coy with a sparkling rosé.

The key things to remember when serving sparkling wine is to serve it chilled at 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be done by placing it in the refrigerator for 2.5 hours or in the freezer for 25 minutes. You have a choice of glasses, but the main goal is to keep the bubbles alive, as they give the wine that sparkle it is known for. A tulip which closes in at the top is best, but a champagne flute works well, too. And don’t forget American champagnes, like those pictured here made by Gruet in New Mexico. gruetwinery.com

ON TO THE MAIN COURSE

Roast Turkey, a holiday favorite. For this recipe click the link to delish.com

Of course, there is nothing to say that you will actually have turkey for any of your holiday meals, but if you decide to go that way, you might want to serve a Pinot Noir. Not only will it go well with the bird, but its main quality is one of being balanced and drinkable. This means that it will go well with the side dishes also, so you need not fear serving mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and cranberry sauce. However, a good Chardonnay can also do the trick, but get an unoaked Chardonnay, as its medium-to-high acidity works well with those side dishes. Should your bird be a duck or a goose, then stick with the Pinot Noir. For those who love roasted meats, a Cabernet Sauvignon or an oaked Chardonnay stand up well to those heavier flavors.

Photo from cameronsseafood.com and the site comes with some fine recipes.

If you really go non-traditional and have seafood, then having it with some champagne would be my first choice. However, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Gris all work well. This last one is particularly good with any of the fried seafood like calamari. However, when serving dishes like bouillabaisse, paella, jambalaya, or gumbo, you can count on a good Pinot Noir.

TIME FOR DESSERT

Poached Pear and Riesling coravin.com

When it comes to desserts and wines, the difficulty can be the mixing of sweets with sweets, which cancels out the taste of both. However, there are options, like the intriguing combinations offered by Coravin, which include meringue cookies and rosé, and peppermint cookies and Cabernet Sauvignon (click link above). One also has the possibility of serving a fortified Port or Sherry, which can provide a sweet ending to a lovely meal. (Photo from thespruceeats.com).

Well, the holidays are upon us, but hopefully with a few good suggestions, we will all navigate them well and have lovely, memorable experiences of beautifully dressed tables and excellent foods and wines. Happy Holidays!

The articles used for this post on wines for the holidays are all linked above.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Coming Soon: Peace and the Apocalypse in Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity and Wine Cocktails.

The Mystic Nativity by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1500

Sandro Botticelli had an interesting career as a painter in the High Renaissance of 15th century Florence. He was favored by Lorenzo de Medici and created many works that were based upon the Ancient Greek myths and legends which had come back into European culture with the Renaissance. However, as time went on he came under the influence of the radical monk Savonarola and began to doubt the previous subject matter of his work. In The Mystic Nativity, we see his approach to the birth of Christ has remnants of his earlier painting style seemingly pressed into the service of a new ideal.

La Bella Maniera, 16th Century Futuristic, And Wines of Romagna.

Art history is a funny discipline, full of its own little quirks of personality. One of those is the habit of labeling previous types of painting in ways that often put them into less than glorious light. My favorite example is how the absolutely beautiful and often quite sophisticated art of the Middle Ages became known as Gothic, a name that implied the barbarism of invading hoards of murderous tribal people from the steppes of central Asia. Another habit known to art history is the artificially well-defined lines between one age and another, with dates given on either side: High Renaissance, 1420-1520. Of course, 1520 marked the death of Raphael, who according to Vasari was the pinnacle of achievement. What came immediately after that was a downhill slide called in later years Mannerism, a hard term to understand as it implied a formulaic painting style too governed by rules that limited its expression. Though this period was also part of the Renaissance, it is rather cast aside as some strange intermediary period before one came to “good art” again in the Baroque. Au contrare mes chères amies. Yes, I said it! Here’s why.

Detail from Fall of the Titans 1526-1535 by Giulio Romano in the Palazzo Te, Mantua, Italy. Photo credit: akg-images/Eric Lessing. For more see artsandculture.google.com

The dates of this work, a part of the totality called Fall of the Titans, was completed somewhere between 1526 and 1535, almost 500 years ago. Yet, the way the figure is handled with a certain looseness in the definition of the stones, a rather symbolic treatment of the hair, and the comical expressiveness of the face are a long way from Leonardo or Raphael, both of whom died just a few years before this was created. The caricature-like treatment of the face of this titan is more akin to what one might see in a modern graphic novel or an animated film. There is none of the realistic detail of a face of a soldier in battle done by Leonardo da Vinci. The images have been simplified. The expression is almost comedic, or at the very least entertaining. The totality of it is quite different from what was the norm just a short while before.

Head of a Soldier in the Battle of Anghieri, Leonardo da Vinci, 1504-05 artsandculture.google.com

The da Vinci above shows a very realistic representation of a soldier in battle. The drama is there; the seriousness of the moment of conflict is clear. The figure has a realism to it that the titan in Romano’s work does not have.

Nor does Romano’s titan have the realistic detail of a figure done by Raphael, like this sketch, Head of an Apostle, though Romano was second to Raphael in Raphael’s studio. Romano was the artist who finished Raphael’s work when Raphael suddenly died. Obviously Romano could paint in the style of the master of the studio, or he would never have been able to work there. So what explains this difference in style? Had the times changed drastically? Did his patron influence him? Or did the artist feel free to charge into something new?

Details from Fall of the Titans and Empire of the Giants by Giulio Romano c. 1531 artsandculture.google.com

In answer to the questions posed above, I would say that it is at least all three. The 16th century was a time of great instability. The various kings, princes, and dukes all lived on the knife’s edge, sometimes literally. In 1527, the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Spain, mutinied over unpaid wages and sacked the city of Rome! Some 45,000 people were severly effected, with those who were not dead or wounded, having to flee into exile. Romano who finished Raphael’s work, left Rome in 1524 (some indicate 1527) after having gotten into trouble for some illustrations that the Church considered pornographic. He had been persuaded to go to Mantua, the home of Federico II Gonzaga, of the family that ruled Mantua at the time, to create the interiors of Gonzaga’s pleasure palace, the Palazzo Te or Tea Palace. With troubles in Rome, and work elsewhere, it was indeed a good time to leave.

In this confluence of events, one can see a number of elements at play. The artist was seeking a different kind of expression (those images the Church disapproved of?); the times were indeed unstable and dangerous (Rome was sacked not long after he left); and his new patron, Gonzaga, was after something different to add to the entertainments held at the Palazzo Te, which in those times was discreetly outside of Mantua. So the art changed to meet the new situation and took a leap forward to something that looks oddly modern to us.

The Palazzo dei Te or Palazzo Te in Mantua, Italy. inexhibit.com

You may have noticed that the colors of the clothes of one of the Giants is rather pastel as are the rocks that surround him. The use of pastel colors became prevalent in the Bella Maniera period. The misconception that has come with the name Mannerist for that period of time (applied by art historians from a later date) has led thinking away from the idea of any originality. With that have come some surprises, like the colors that appeared under the grime of the Sistine Chapel (1554). The dull colors that made the images hard to see, once cleaned, showed the use of many soft pastel colors, which in fact was a hallmark of La Bella Maniera. To get a good sense of what they looked like before and with a click of the mouse to see what they looked like once cleaned and well-lighted, look at “Restoration of the Sistine Chapel: Before and After” by David Calhoun davidbcalhoun.com

Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557) was one of the outstanding painters of the time and the teacher of Agostino Bronzino who became court painter to Duke Cosimo de Medici I of Tuscany. Here in The Deposition (1526-1528), Pontormo is fully in the spirit of that change in the art. Notice the elongated bodies and the use of bright pastel colors. Bronzino would also distort the bodies of the figures but only to make them curve in an elegant way. See Bronzino’s Allegory of Love on OfArtandWine.com, 02/10/20

This playing with the forms and the colors and taking them far away from what the High Renaissance had formulated could be seen as a part of Baldassare Castiglione’s idea of sprezzatura, representing ease and elegance in everything. Portormo’s figures almost seem more decorative rather than highly religious. That penchant for the unrealistically elongated, gracefully flowing figures can be seen in the stucco work inside of Fontainebleau Palace in France. It was with Francis I of France that the Renaissance entered France. Yes, Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years there, but La Bella Maniera followed.

Figures above the entrance to the Chapel of the Trinity and figures by Francesco Primaticcio

In the figures above (all from Fontainebleau), one can see the elongated arms and legs and relatively small heads of the figures. This move into the format of the Bella Maniera came because of the influence of King Francis I, who after his return from being defeated at the Battle of Pavia (1526) and spending a year in captivity in Spain, decided that everything must change, and change it did. Artists like Primaticcio were brought in from Italy, bringing their 16th century Renaissance sense of elegance and beauty (bella maniera literally), and stories that were more focused on classical myths and legends than they were on the biblical. amisdechateaufontainebleau.org.

The changes to art fostered in the 16th century affected architecture as well. There in Mantua on a municipal court building are two female cariatides that drape themselves down the building façade very much like Belle Epoch figures. Yet, they were done by Romano during his long stay in Mantua. Most outstanding would be the Park of Monsters, also known as The Monsters of Bomarzo. Prince Pier Francesco Orsini (old Roman aristocracy) suffered from war, captivity, and the death of his beloved wife, which one might say soured him on life. Wanting to express the darker side of human existence, the prince hired a celebrated architect who had worked on Saint Peter’s Cathedral to come to create the prince’s vision of horror. Not unlike Romano who had gone off to Mantua to create these enormous, fantastical figures for Federico II Gonzaga, so Pirro Ligorio went to fulfill his patron’s wishes. You see the results below

Some of the Monsters of Bomarzo atlasobscura.com

While this work is done with the intention of being horrific, these are still from the 1500s, which is one of the reasons I posit that Bella Maniera was quite futuristic. Certainly it is art that moved well beyond the normal look of the day, which may have been the reason it was so dismissed by later art historians. The Catholic Church did not like this veering into myth, legend, and the imagination, so launched as part of its Counter-Reformation initiatives, an art that was more “understandable” and which dealt with religion once again. Thus was born the Baroque Period and the famous Carracci family from Bologna were among the first to produce that art that left behind these harder to understand concepts and brought the art down to an earthly realism once again. (See the article on Annibale Carracci from Octobet 25, 2021). What I see, as an artist and art lover, is that when artists are free to express, they can go far ahead of where the regular population is. For those who are interested in these possibilities, I suggest reading Dr. Leonard Shlain’s book Art and Physics, which may give one a different perspective on Abstract Expressionism.

Works used for this article are in the links above. My personal art history notes from my study of La Bella Maniera in 16th century art under the guidance of Mme. Chantal Duqueroux in Avignon, and from our class visit to Mantua are also used.

All art works are in public domain. Photo credits are given in the links to the websites of origin.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

The Wines of Romagna

Vineyards in Emilia-Romagna lacuchinaitaliana.com

The region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy is in and around the city of Bologna, home of one of Europe’s oldest universities and as mentioned above, home of the celebrated Carracci family of painters from the Baroque era. It is said to be a land that produces wines and foods that are hearty and down-to-earth like the rugged, plain-spoken inhabitants of that area. Here are few to consider.

LAMBRUSCO

Two Glasses of Lambrusco delish.com

Lambrusco is one of the favorite wines of the Romagna area. Lambrusco grapes were used for winemaking long before bubbly was discovered. Their cultivation goes back to the time of the Etruscans and the Romans. The grapes come in a wide variety: salamina, maestri, marani, montericco, and sobara. Most are grown right there in Emilia-Romagna but in some cases vintners will get some of them from Mantua, which is actually in Lombardy. The making of the frizzante, the sparkling wine, is done with the same method used for producing prosecco, which involves a second fermentation in a pressurized tank. The flavors are of berries and citrus, and the colors range from red to rose pink. For those who like red wine all year long, Lambrusco is a good way to have some red sparkle in the summer time.

MALVASIA

While the malvasia grape grows all over the Mediterranean, it came to Emilia-Romagna as the result of the Venetians losing a trade route to Crete because of the Turks. The solution was to go relatively nearby to Emilia-Romagna and grow the grapes there. Malvasia grapes produce a white wine that also comes in a frizzante. Its light taste is perfect for a summer’s day at the beach or for lightly fried snacks. I can imagine it as a nice companion for a plate of fried calamari. It comes in both dry and sweet varieties and the most celebrated kind is Malvasia de Candia, which is a reference to its original home in Crete.

PIGNOLETTO

Cultivated in the hills near Bologna, at an altitude of 150-600 meters (600-1900 feet), the Grechetto Gentile grape is the source of Pignoletto, a favorite in the restaurants of Bologna, as it comes in sparkling, dry, and sweet varieties. The name refers to pine cones, as the grapes cluster in small tight units in the general shape of a pine cone. Most of the production centers around the Apennine town of Pignoletto, hence the name. The tank method is used to make the sparkling version of this wine, which is positioning itself to rival Prosecco, though that competition has been compared to David in combat with Goliath. But David won that battle, didn’t he? Guess we will have to wait and see.

TREBBIANO

Last but certainly not least is Trebbiano. The grape itself is often blended with other varieties, but it can stand alone as a light, refreshing wine to serve with fish or with snacks. It is often associated with Ravenna, but it is the most well-known wine of Emilia-Romagna. It has a straw yellow color, which is like a reminder of summertime, and it comes in sparkling versions as well as still ones. There are versions of it from other areas like Trebbiano di Lugana (from the Veneto), Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from central Italy and its famed Montelpulciano d’Abruzzo. However, there is also Trebbiano di Soave from Lombardy and the Veneto.

Needless to say, Emilia-Romagna is a rich area not only in wines but also in art and art influences. So the next time you have a chance to try one of these wines, think of Bologna, the Carracci family of painters, and of that odd and beautiful period that came just before them – La Bella Maniera.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Coming Soon: Thanksgiving!

As the next post would be the 25th, Thanksgiving, I wish you all a Happy Holiday now. In the meantime, I shall be researching the Art of the Table to provide a little history on how it is that we have arrived at the making of glorious artful table decor, and of course, there will be suggestions for good wines for the rest of holidays.

Photo credit to HomeDesignLover.com

Annibale Carracci, the Anti-Mannerist, and Sangiovese Wines.

The Bean Eater by Annibale Carrachi, 1583-1585.

The table above is not filled with fine glassware or flatware. There is no glint of silver here and there. Nor is the food being consumed anything but the most ordinary – beans, in fact. The items on the table are rather non-descript, bread, wine, and the main course, those beans. While one may not be able to place the clothing in time, it is certain that this is the garb of a working man, someone with his sleeves rolled up. His crumpled hat was obviously meant to protect his head, though his face shows the ruddiness of hours in the sun. His thick wrist and heavy fingered hands, complete with dirt under his nails, indicate a sturdy body accustomed to working the fields. He looks up in the direction of the viewers as if he suddenly notices us, so suddenly that he tilts his next mouthful of beans so that some of the juices fall from the spoon back toward the bowl. It is almost like a snapshot captured in paint rather than by a photograph.

I have a question for you, just for the sake of comparison. Look at the dates for The Bean Eater, and tell me if you think it looks like the painting of the 1500s? Probably the first answer would be, “No.” The paintings of that time were all of Bible stories, crucifixions, and saints. Or perhaps in your museum visits, you have seen portraits of various kings, queens, and other notables in their stiff, but beautifully detailed finery. An example might be Bronzino’s representation of the key figures around Cosimo de Medici the First, Duke of Tuscany. The subjects of that type of painting were of times gone by or of levels of society far beyond that of the ordinary person. The easily recognizable activities of daily life seemed to be of no import. Then along came Annibale Carracci, and the art began to look different.

Boy Drinking by Annibale Carracci, 1582-1583 Hover over image to magnify.

In the painting here. a shop boy takes a break and guzzles down a glass of wine. The pose, if you can call it that, again is a snapshot in painting of a particular unguarded moment. The way the head is tilted back to show the inside of the nostrils and the eyes looking into the emptied glass to make sure to get every last drop, would not be one to write home about. However, it presents interesting angles, great possibilities for subtle color changes, and speaks of a gesture that everyone can recognize. Even the stain on the shirt fits in with the idea of a worker taking a short break. It is a painting of the everyday life of an ordinary person, yet done in a style that doesn’t look much like the 1500s. It broke the mold, and that was part of what made Carracci so famous.

Sebastian Smee in his recent article for the Washington Post, “This Simple Painting Revolutionized Art,” gives the credit to Annibale Carracci’s Boy Drinking as the painting that broke away from the style of the time, called Mannerism. It is a name created later that I argue does not do justice to a lot of the art of the period any more than Gothic (which suggests barbaric) does justice to the beauty of the art of the Middle Ages. (More on all that is to come.) However, the key thing here is that things changed, and the reasons for that change are quite interesting.

Agostino Carracci, brother of Annibale, and Annibale Carracci.

First let’s get some idea of who the principle player in this story was. The two portraits above, both self-portraits of the respective artists, are perfect representations of both the men and their times. On the left is Agostino Carracci, the slightly older brother of Annibale (Agostino, 1557-1602 and Annibale 1560-1609). While both brothers and their cousin Ludovico worked on projects together, Agostino shows himself in the formal manner, appropriate for a painter and poet who worked for the upper echelons of society. In this picture he represents himself, complete with ruffled collar and a garment with satiny sleeves, as a watchmaker, or a keeper of time, which in some ways is what a painter does by capturing the spirit of an age. Annibale, on the other hand, shows mostly his face and the burning light in his eyes, all emphasized by the cropped aspect of the painting and the dark browns of his non-descript cloak and floppy old hat. Simply put, with no artifice, you can tell by the portrait that the guy can paint. What more do you need to know?

Annibale Carracci is the most notable of the three Carracci’s who were painting at the time, and it is because of his move away from the stylized and highly intellectualized paintings of the Mannerist period that he is the most famous. The 16th century was the second part of the Renaissance and was much involved with pleasing royal patrons who used art to demonstrate their power and wealth in a time when things were in fact quite precarious.

A good idea of the rigors of court life in those dangerous times comes from a book called The Book of the Courtier by the man represented here in a painting by Raphael (c.1514). His name was Baldassare Castiglione. Castiglione was known as the supreme courtier, who created a special term, sprezzatura, to describe the way that a courtier should behave. The idea was to make any demand by the ruler (king, duke, prince, etc.) seem as though it could be done as easily as breathing air, regardless of the difficulty.

The result of all this intellectualized “refinement” in behavior had a definite effect on the art, producing art that was highly symbolic, dealing with classical rather than biblical themes, and which often went far ahead of where society in the 1500s actually was. One good example is the work of Giulio Romano, Raphael’s second-in-command, who in 1527 traveled to Mantua to paint the interior of the Palazzo di Te in huge almost cartoon-like figures of gods and goddesses cavorting through the many tales of their misdeeds. The feeling is one of walking through an animated movie or perhaps a graphic novel.

The Empire and the Giants and Fall of the Titans by Giulio Romano (c. 1531) For more see Googgle Arts and Culture artsandculture.google.com

This movement away from art related to religion played into the hands of the Catholic Church that wanted to bring art back to realism and to art that could be easily understood through common culture and Church doctrine, as opposed to references to ancient, classical myths and legends. In a way, some of this had happened in Florence in the 1490s when the monk Savonarola had railed against the vanities and had people like Botticelli, famous for many paintings of classical themes, throwing some of his works into the bonfires. This time the move away from classical themes and intellectualized treatments of such fit in with the Counter-Reformation. The art became known as Baroque, and the emphasis was on realism and not on these “odd” artistic ideas like Romano’s caryatides that support the entrance to a court of justice in Mantua and look almost like figures from the Belle Epoch in the late 1800s.

Carracci’s focus on the ordinary and on realism fit right in with the mood of the times, which was to bring art back into something recognizable by the masses. Carracci, himself, seems to have been more interested in pursuing his craft as a painter than in gaining favor at any royal court. Even so, he painted his share of major works including the ceilings of the Farnese Palazzo in Rome. While he did do religious paintings, he ventured into areas that were to become more popular in the 1600s when Roman painting took a turn toward the landscape. (For more on that see the information on the show, “Rome: Nature and the Ideal, Landscapes 1600-1650” at the Prado in Madrid, museodelprado.es)

River Landscape by Annibale Carracci, c. 1590

Though there is a person on a raft in the middle of this painting, the focus is decidedly on the natural environment. In fact, the man on the raft is partially blocked by a great tree trunk. Carracci’s treatment of the trees and their leaves looks like a precursor to the painting of the 17th century’s Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Carracci’s desire to always improve his craft led him to go to Venice in the 1580s where he spent time in the home of Jacopo Bassano, a painter quite famous for, among other things, his paintings of dogs. Titian’s work was a great influence on Carracci as well, as was the work of the Florentine, Michelangelo.

However, Carracci was an innovator, developing a style of applying paint called broken brushwork, that allows for the rougher textured paint strokes to pick up the light. This innovative attitude may have been the result of his growing up in Bologna, the home of one of the oldest universities in Europe. Whatever the contributing elements were, the Carraccis (brothers and cousin) were among the most famous of the artists in the late 16th century, and along with Caravaggio moved art into a new period that allowed people to understand what they saw without having to be schooled in all of the appropriate classical references. I do still say that La Bella Maniera, a more appropriate name than Mannerism, had its fine points with the artists taking many of the works far ahead of the time in which they lived. However, that story is “TO BE CONTINUED…”

All paintings used in this article are in Public Domain.

Resources used are as follows:

“Great Works. The Bean Eater” by Tom Lubbock independent.co.uk

Heilbrun Timeline of History, “Annabale Carracci (1560-1609)” metmuseum.org

River Landscape artsy.net

“Rome: Nature and the Ideal Landscape 1600-1650” museodelprado.es

“This Simple Painting Revolutionized Art” by Sebastian Smee washingtonpost.com

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

The Blood of Jove – Sangiovese.

Sangiovese grapes from “Get to Know Sangiovese Wine” eataly.com

It is said that in ancient times, the Etruscans named this wine for the King of the Gods, Jove or Jupiter, as the later Romans would call him. The rich dark juice that comes from these grapes along with its strong, tannin-rich taste make the name of the grape quite appropriate. In many ways, it is the king of the Tuscan grapes, as it can be the sole grape used in a wine, as in Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello is a supreme Tuscan wine and the most important appellation. It has been called seductive, as it has the flavor of “cherries and chocolate” and aromas of “truffles and tobacco” (eataly.com). Or the grape can be blended to create a wine like the ever popular Chianti, the best of which is from the Chianti Classico Consortium, which produces high quality Chianti, marked with the Black Rooster label (see ofartandwine.com) to distinguish it from some of the more acidic, mass produced types.

Aerial view of the city of Bologna, Italy, home of the Carracci family of painters.

Bologna was the home of Annibale Carracci and the city to which he brought fame by his innovated painting style. Bologna and the nearby town of Modena are famous for the wines they produce, many of which include Sangiovese grapes. The area of Italy where they are located is known as Romagna or sometimes as Emilia-Romagna. The countryside surrounding the area and the Sangiovese wines produced here are said to be as “rough, honest and frank” as the inhabitants of the area (travelemiliaromagna.it). That direct, honest characteristic can certainly be seen in the work of Annabale Carracci, just think of The Bean Eater. Modena produces a ruby-red wine that is mainly made from Sangiovese grapes. It is dry and well balanced and known for its beautiful purple reflections.

While the Sangiovese grape seems to have originated in Tuscany, the locals in and around Bologna claim it was born in the village of Santarcangelo di Romagna. Everybody loves to claim a good thing, right? No matter where it originated, it has become one of winemakers favorite grapes, as it blends so well with other grapes and can produce a wide variety of tastes based upon the climate, the terroir, and the winemaking process. This versatility has lead to the creation of wines referred to as Super Tuscans. They are made in non-traditional ways, including blending with other varieties such as cabernet, merlot, and syrah, and being aged in small French oak casques.

Sangiovese wine and anything with tomato. Photo credit and recipes justwines.com.au

The picture above says it all. Sangiovese wines go very well with meat dishes, and pastas with tomato sauces, like the famous Bolognese sauce. Grilled steak goes very well with the wine, but also grilled vegetables have their taste enhanced by the flavor of Sangiovese. The wine also works with the flavors of herbs like oregano, dill, thyme, and basil. A great cheese to serve with Sangiovese wine is Aged Asiago or Aged Pecorino Toscano. The wines are meant to be drunk fairly soon, so do not keep an unopened bottle more than about three years, though some versions that are mixed with cabernet, malbec or merlot can last five-to-seven years. Serve the wine at 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Any glass will do, as there is little aroma. Then you are good to go.

Don’t miss this wonderful wine. Try it the next time you fire up the grill for meat dishes and grilled veggies or when you are in the mood for a meaty pasta dish. Enjoy it like Carracci’s Bean Eater dug into his hearty meal, and toast both Tuscany and Romagna for their contribution to the world of wine.

Photo from thespruceeats.com “What is Sangiovese Wine?”

Information gathered on Sangiovese wine comes from the linked websites in the paragraphs above.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2021

Coming Soon: The Avant Garde of La Bella Maniera and Wines of Romagna.

Detail from Fall of the Titans by Giulio Romano, c. 1531 in the Palazzo di Te, Mantua, Italy. artsandculture.google.com

Yes, this was done in the early 1500s. It looks like a modern graphic novel illustration of a classical story, but no, it was done by Giulio Romano for his patron Federico Gonzaga of Mantua to decorate his pleasure palace the Palazzo di Te. This rather modern looking illustration of a scene is just one example of how Mannerism, also called La Bella Maniera, allowed artists the freedom to go where their imaginations and their art would take them and thus became a real avant-garde movement before the term was ever coined.

Art History C.S.I.: What Happened to Nefertiti’s Eye? Plus Wine Among the Ancients.

Among the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, the Amarna period particularly captures the imagination. Whether it is deciphering Akhenaten’s strangely shaped statues (physical deformity, religious symbolism, or artistic innovation?) and who the heck was Smenkhkare, or figuring out who killed King Tut’s mother and was she Nefertiti or Kiya, the questions around Nefertiti’s missing eye seem rather small. Yet among Egyptologists, whether professional or lay, even seemingly minor things can become full-blown controversies. Egyptologist, Dr. Kara Cooney, laughingly said in one of her youtube online conversations that at any gathering of Egyptologists, the mention of anything about Nefertiti is a good way to start a bar fight. While Of Art and Wine does not suggest that you throw a glass of glorious Pinot Noir at anyone, let’s dare to dive into the ancient queen’s business.

Bust of Nefertiti, c. 1340 B.C.E. Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany. Hover over image to magnify.

First of all, there is no word for queen in Ancient Egyptian. What we call a queen, they referred to as the Great Royal Wife, and Nefertiti is thought to have been even more than a wife. Some think she was a co-ruler with her husband, Akhenaten. He ruled Egypt from 1353 to 1336 BCE and took Egypt toward the worship of one god, Aten, a solar deity. This deed was so hated that he has been forever labeled a heretic, and much of his legacy was obliterated in ancient times. It is often been suggested that the odd look of some of the statuary comes from an attempt to mix the male and female elements of the sun god, Aten, into the form of the Pharaoh, who was his chief representative on earth. Others, especially African-Americans, look at that face and find recognizable features seen within that population. As has been said, the controversies are many. (For more on the sculptural style of that period, see the article “Akhenaten: Strange-looking King or Sassy Sculptor?” at yisela.medium.com)

Statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten yisela.medium.com

Akhenaten changed more that just the style of worship. He changed how the country was structured. Rather than have the usual north/south split, with the royal family and court in Thebes (ancient Waset) in the south and the administration in the northern city of Memphis (Inebu-hedj or The White Walls), he had both the court and the administration at his new capital, Akhetaten, thus centralizing the government. This becomes an important fact when looking at the location of the home and workshop of Thutmose, the Royal Sculptor, whose workshop produced many of the existing statues of that period, including the one of Nefertiti with the missing eye.

Thutmose was no piker. The compound where he lived and worked was very near to the North Palace where the royals lived. It contained the artist’s rather spacious home, a large workshop where he worked with his assistants, a “pantry” where various models were kept – a sort of reference library of sculpture, and a stable which included his very own chariot (a gift from Pharaoh?). His close association and location near to the royal court was the source of royal commissions and the source of his wealth. Though Thutmose’ tomb in Sakkara shows him as a painter with a palette given him by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, it is clear from the work that he did for Akhentaten that his abilities as a sculptor were much in demand. And of course, those sculptures were often painted as the beautifully done bust of Nefertiti is.

Nefertiti through the years. All are versions of the queen from the studio of Thutmose.

The bust of Nefertiti that is now in the Neues Museum in Berlin was found by German archeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, in 1912 and left Egypt under not quite legal circumstances. A lax French official (the French not the Egyptians controlled the archeological concession at the time) did not inspect each box, allowing the statue to leave the country unnoticed. This has set up the current dispute between Egypt and Germany about who should have possession of that statue. It was with the discovery of the statue that the theories about the missing eye began.

THEORY #1: THE EYE POPPED OUT WHEN THE STATUE FELL OFF A SHELF.

Borchardt had found the statue in Thutmose’ pantry along with a number of other items, some unfinished and some deliberately smashed (Akhenaten’s images in particular). It was lying face down in the sand, and when picked up, the missing eye was immediately noticed. This brings up one of the theories about what might have happened. This theory says that the statue was on a shelf and in the disorder that followed the death of Akhenaten, a time when Thutmose moved his studio to Memphis, it fell off the shelf and the eye popped out. This idea had occurred to Borchardt, who thoroughly searched and shifted through the sands in an attempt to find the missing eye. However, none was found then, nor has one been found since. This may suggests that one had not yet been made for that sculpture, though that is problematic as the bust dates from either 1345 or 1340 BCE, which is a few years before the end of Akhenaten’s reign. There must be another reason why the eye is missing, especially since there are also no chisel marks indicating the eye was gouged out by those who defaced the other statues of the former royals once the regime had ended.

THEORY #2: NEFERTITI HAD AN OPTHALMIC INFECTION THAT OBLITERATED HER LEFT EYE.

Eye diseases were certainly not uncommon in Ancient Egypt. There are also lots of superstitions concerning the eye, from the fear of the evil eye to the power of the Eye of Horus, which was a protective symbol. (The god Horus lost his eye in battle, by the way.) The problem with this theory is that there are plenty of representations of Nefertiti with both eyes. As well, there are images of her with no eyes at all, just eyelids, but again this would be a matter of the stages of completion of the statue itself. Of importance here is royal decorum in which there were appropriate ways to show the royal family. Egyptologist, Joyce Tyldesley, gives the example of the images of Pharaoh Siptah of the 19th Dynasty, who was known to have had a twisted, crippled foot. All images of him, however, are shown with normal feet and legs, as was deemed appropriate when representing the pharaoh (Nefertiti’s Face, p. 62).

Two statues of Nefertiti from Thutmose’ workshop with eyes outlined but not yet put in.

THEORY #3: THUTMOSE, THE REJECTED LOVER, TOOK HIS REVENGE OUT ON THE STATUE.

Here it seems that the heat of the desert must have taken its toll on the imagination. For like a mirage, the thought that this artisan whose very livelihood (and life) depended upon keeping the Pharaoh’s favor would hit on the queen, just evaporates the closer one looks at it.

THEORY #4: THE BUST WAS JUST ONE OF THE MANY STATUES THAT THUTMOSE’S ASSISTANTS PRACTICED ON.

Reality seems to have returned with the supposition that since this bust along with many others in various stages of completion was found in the pantry, which served as a type of repository of models, it was also a model that was used to teach the assistants how to install the eyes. The trouble with this, in my opinion, is that there is no trace of the beeswax glue that was used to cement eyes into statues. The eye itself would have been of rock crystal with the pupil painted in black, and of course, no such missing eye has ever been found. Though there are a couple of tiny areas where the black eyeliner is missing on the lower left eyelid, there is no indication of eyes being set and removed and then reset as would happen when workers practice doing something.

THEORIES #5 AND #6: MINE.

Joyce Tyldesley, at one point in her book admits that sometimes even the best Egyptologists give way to “unabashed speculation,” which is how she announces some of her theories about what happened in those days. So given that license to “speculate,” I think that this bust of Nefertiti was indeed a model, but one worked on by Thutmose himself as a way to perfect his ability to capture the image of the queen. It seems to me to have been so close to completion and too finely modeled and painted to have been something that he would allow his assistants to practice on. The xrays that show the sculpture underneath the lovely painted plaster finish, show a face that has more wrinkles, as well as a slighly bulbous tip to the nose. The painted bust had alterations done to the face underneath the plaster covering, so that we get a perfected realism. It still shows the indication of lines at the corners of the mouth and a bit under the eyes, but is done in a sort of ancient “airbrushing” technique to enhance the queen’s beauty. Once the artist had achieved his goals for how to represent the queen with reality but appropriate beauty, and with one eye already perfectly set, he had no need to set another eye. He just put the statue on a shelf and left it for future reference. (For more on what lies beneath the painted plaster, see this article from Scientific American, “The Hidden Face of Nefertiti.” scientificamerican.com)

Lastly, we have this statue of Nefertiti which is called the Striding Statue, as it is full length. It is dated from 1350 which is early in Akhenaten’s reign. How that date was determined, I do not know, but the statue itself seems to represent an older Nefertiti (see the black and white photo presented earlier which shows her face). She would have had some of her six children by 1350, but all six if this statue was from a later date. The full length version shows a woman with a sagging belly and a stoop in her shoulders that suggests advancing age. I mention this because dating of these works seems to vary a lot.

The Nefertiti bust is sometimes dated at 1345 BCE or perhaps 1340 BCE, but could it be as late as 1337? What if this standing statue is from a later part of the 17 year reign of Akhenaten as well, and thus showing the aging queen, perhaps not in the best of health. There is some evidence that Nefertiti, whose name changes a number of times, shows up again in Year 16 of Akhenaten’s reign, as the Great Royal Wife. There are white ushabtis, quickly done figures carved to provide extra servants to be placed in the tomb for someone who has already died, that have Nefertiti’s name on them and are marked Year 16. If the bust of Nefertiti was done around 1337 rather than 1340 BCE, could it be that it did not get finished because the queen died?

Well, regardless of these “unabashed speculations,” we do know that after the last few Amarnite rulers came and went, the whole project was shut down. The royals under Tutankhamun moved back to Thebes, and the administration went to Memphis. Thutmose moved to Memphis also, as it was the site where the commissions were given out for various pharaonic projects. He built his tomb nearby in Sakkara, a site favored by many former Amarna officials. The bust was left behind in his old digs in Akhetaten, along with many other figures, as there was no more need or desire for them.

What we are left with are speculations on mysteries inside of conundrums inside of enigmas. We look at the face of the queen and wonder about her, and what part she had to play in that religious revolution that failed. Who was she? We will never know, though Camille Paglia left us with a chilling thought when she wrote, “The proper response to the Nefertiti bust is fear.” The actual truth is but a whisper in the sand.

Sources for this post come largely from two of Joyce Tyldesley’s books on Nefertiti: Nefertiti, Egypt’s Sun Queen, 1999 and Nefertiti’s Face: The Creation of an Icon, 2018.

Scientific American article (linked above) “The Hidden Face of Nefertiti,” and the article, “Akhenaten: Strange-looking King or Sassy Sculptor” (also linked above.)

Artwork shown in this article is in public domain.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.comor her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Wine Among the Ancients.

We know that wines have been around for a long time. They were created for a variety of reasons and used in a variety of ways. A little tour of the ancient world produces some interesting details.

ANCIENT EGYPT

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs for wine used to label wine jars.

The Ancient Egyptians may have started the business of crafting interesting wine labels. Emily Kate in the article, “How Ancient Egypt’s Wine Labels Rival Today’s” (grapecollective.com) details how their system of labeling worked. Egyptians, like those of many ancient cultures, mostly drank beer, and workers were even paid in beer. The upper echelons of society had their wine. Both drinks were solutions to the problem of drinking water that made people sick. Most of the grapes for local production were cultivated in the rich terrain found in the Nile Delta; however, much of the wine was imported from the near east.

As for the labels, they are sometimes ways to date the reigns of the pharaohs. For instance one of the signs that there was a pharaoh named Smenkhkare are the wine labels on jugs that come from the House of Smenkhkare, which announces the beginning of his reign, followed by the Funerary Wine of Smenkhkare, which is dated later during that same year. For more on their ancient drinks, I leave the link to a great video called The Pharaoh’s Liquid Gold about the creation of beer youtube.com

MESOPOTAMIA

We know that many of the cities and civilizations in this area of the Middle East go back for many thousands of years. Like the Ancient Egyptians, most of the common people drank beer. There is even a recipe given for beer in an ancient work called “The Hymn to Ninkasi.” Code de Vino’s official magazine website, gives Mesopotamia the credit for creating the world’s first wine culture. It is from there that the Egyptians imported much of their wine. King Tut had a number of wine jugs, many imported, in his tomb, showing that he intended to enjoy it in the afterlife as he had in his earthly life. Seemingly the grapes for these wines were grown in the area near the Straights of Hormuz in modern day Iran.

ANCIENT PERSIA (now Iran).

Bas Relief from ruins of ancient Persepolis – Iran (Persia). UNESCO World Heritage Site

A site in the Zagros mountains in Iran revealed wine jugs going back 7,000 years. The Shiraz grape which is grown throughout the world seems to be connected to the city of Shiraz and a famous wine produced in Iran since ancient times, called Shirazi. The first record of it is from 2,500 BCE. The poet Hafez immortalized this wine in his poetry in the 14th century, and in the 1680s, a French merchant, Jean Chardin, drank Shiraz wine in the court of Shah Abbas and wrote of its marvelous taste. The BBC Channel has a short documentary on The Secret Behind Iran’s Fabled Wine (Shiraz) youtube.com

THE ANCIENT GREEKS

Can’t mention the Persians without mentioning the Greeks, who are quite an inventive bunch. Along with developing Democracy, they did some interesting tricks with their wine. One of those was mixing sea water with wine. Yes, sea water! It seems that in just the right amounts, the salt in the sea water enhances the taste of the wine. This technique for improving the taste was passed on to the Romans, who often continued the practice. Wine has a 4,000 year old history in Greece, where it was used for both religious ceremonies and for “medicinal” purposes. The Greeks believed in the Delphic proscription of “nothing in excess” and applied it to their consumption of wine. It was considered barbaric in Ancient Greece to drink wine that was not mixed with water. The recipe was 1 part wine to 3 parts water.

THE ROMANS

Finally on our little tour, we come to the Romans, whose vast territory was ideal for the spread of viticulture. From the fertile valleys of Italy into France and Spain and even England, wherever the Romans settled, wine was sure to emerge. People in many of these areas had discovered how to make wine before their Roman overlords showed up; however, the trade routes of the Roman Empire enhanced the production greatly. In fact, we still drink the same varieties of wine that the Romans did in their day. Interesting detail: the wine that was popular with the Ancient Romans was a white wine called Falernum. It was allowed to age for 10-20 years, which turned it from white to a beautiful amber color.

While we talk of the certainties of human existence, like Death and Taxes, we can now say that Wines will always be with us as well.

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©marjorie vernelle 2021

COMING SOON: Annibale Carracci, the Anti-Mannerist, and Sangiovese Wines.

The Bean Eater by Annibale Carracci, 1585.

Annibale Carracci and his brother Agostino were two of the most famous painters in the 16th century. They worked in the style which we call Mannerism but which was known in at the time as La Bella Maniera (The Beautiful Manner) for emphasizing the finesse with which work was done. Even in this simple genre painting of a man having a meal, Annibale Carracci uses a technique of broken brush work to give the piece a polish that was much valued at the time. Notice also that even eating beans, this fellow has his glass of wine, and the area around Bologna produces wines made from Lambrusco. Trebbiano and Sangiovese grapes.