Palate Allegory (1 of 2)
Author: Unknown
Origin: Nordic School (?)
Dating: 17th century (?)
Material: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions (cm): 50,5 x 66,5
Inv. no.: PDdep0016
[This] «is a reproduction of one of the engravings from the famous series The Five Senses, dated around 1638. The author of this series, Abraham Bosse, was the most popular French engraver of his time, considering the large number of reproductions that spread throughout several European countries from the first half of the 17th century. Raised as a Calvinist, he enjoyed writing short moralistic texts and adapting scenes from the Gospels into his works.
The original engraving offers a glimpse into the transformations taking place at the table and the new customs and uses emerging from 1600 onwards. Erasmus’ work (De civilitate morum puerilium, Rotterdam, 1530) was translated into French in 1560, advocating a new approach to table service and hygiene regarding the use of tableware. Within a few decades, the use of forks, individual plates and knives with rounded edges, became customary on bourgeois tables.
However, regarding the distribution of delicacies – and contrary to the classical French service style already adopted since the 16th century for serving during noble banquets – the engraving seems to demonstrate a fashion that was part of the customs of the Old French Regime, in which each guest only tasted a limited number of dishes arranged on the table at each service. Hence the reputation of French sobriety among the peoples of Eastern and Northern Europe (FLANDRIN; MONTANARI: 2001).»
Sasha Assis Lima
“Flora in the Palace’s Collections”
In the center of the table […], on a pristine, finely creased white tablecloth, an artichoke stands out on a plate placed over a warmer that keeps the vegetable at ideal temperature. Both diners hold large napkins, and the man sips wine from a crystal goblet with a stem. A page, holding a jug, prepares to refill the glass with the beverage decanted from a bottle in the cooler. Even the dog follows the new etiquette, politely receiving its meal on a plate.
Beyond the central artichoke, another page approaches the table, presenting a fruit on a plate. By observing representations more faithful to the original, one may see that it is a variety of melon (Cucumis melo L.), a probable ancestor of the famous Cavaillon melon from the Provence region, whose cultivation is documented from the early 16th century with seeds brought from the Papal States in Italy. Varieties cultivated as early as Antiquity had oblong shapes, similar to the ones of Transcaucasia, one of the possible origins of its domestication.
[…]
[T]he engraving reveals a significant shift that had been taking place for several decades prior to its creation, both in terms of food choices and preparation. Throughout the 17th century in France, vegetable dishes proliferated in cookbooks, while dietitians advocated for the use of mushrooms, artichokes, cardoons, asparagus and other tender shoots, abandoning more substantial foods such as grains that had been the dietary staple during the Middle Ages. As the engraving suggests, the members of the social elite depicted are modern and up-to-date with the latest food trends of their time, when the goal was not so much to feel full, but rather to diversify their diet and restrain their appetites. (FLANDRIN; MONTANARI, 2001: 238).»
Sasha Assis Lima
