[Sca-cooks] OT: food paintings

[johnna holloway]

The source for the quote regarding the painting
by Valkenborch being an early depiction of a cheese pumpkin comes
probably from William Woys Weaver. You can find it in his book
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening on page 283.

He notes that the original painting is in the
Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna. It does not
appear to be on the web. You probably should try
printed art books of reproductions that feature the artist
and/or the museum if you want to see it.
Did find a few things more on the family of artists:

Valkenborch (or Valckenborch, or Valkenborgh),
 family of Netherlandish landscape and genre painters,
 the most important members of which were Lucas (c. 1535-1597)
 and his younger brother  Marten (1535-1612).
 Lucas joined the Malines Guild in 1560 and in 1565 was in Antwerp,
 whence he fled to Aix-la-Chapelle to avoid persecution (he was a
Protestant).
 He worked for Archduke Matthias and accompanied  him to Linz before
settling in Frankfurt in 1593.
 Marten fled with his brother and returned to Antwerp before going to
Frankfurt,
Venice and Rome. Both worked in the Bruegel tradition, and both favored
the subject
of the Tower of Babel. They also painted series of the
  Seasons, and their winter scenes are especially notable.
and then
Frederick van VALKENBORCH  Nuremberg, 1570 – Nuremberg, 1623
The painting you listed is  Un couple de maraîchers sur un marché.
Frederick was the son/nephew of the artists mentioned above.

The exhibition was Fêtes et Festins.
  Tableaux de Maîtres Allemands, Flamands, Français, Hollandais et
Italiens des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles.
It looks like it was an interesting one.
The main page is at: http://www.galleryvpitchal.com/Expo/exposition.html

Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway


Angie Malone wrote:
>I was looking through some online heirloom seed catalogs, and I found some
> where that sells
> Long Island Cheese pumpkin seeds.  snipped -----Cheese
> squashes were first listed in America in 1815, but was depicted much
> earlier in a painting by Lucas Van Valkenborch (C. 1530-1597) Offered by 0
> of 255 seed companies.(Long Island Cheese, offered by 3 of 255 seed companies)
>
> Now when I saw that I thought...hmmm... wonder if it's true and if so what
> does it mean?   I didn't realize at the time I had seen some of Van
> Valkenborch's paintings.  Anyway, I went searching google for this
> painting.  I haven't found it yet but I did find the one listed
> below.  Which is a painting of (I think) two people going through the
> market and purchasing food.  They are some pretty interesting things in the
> painting (that I recognize)    artichokes, perhaps fava beans, carrots(they
> look orange), turnips, something in a basket that I swear looks like cherry
> tomatoes, but is probably some sort of fruit.>
> http://www.galleryvpitchal.com/Expo/valkenborchF.html>
> Does anyone know of the painting they describe in the pumpkin ad above.  I
> may have already seen that picture but don't realize it.
> Anyway, just thought it was an interesting thing to stumble over at 12:43am
> EST.>          Angeline
>