I find it hard to imagine The Harvesters was painted four-hundred-and-sixty years ago! It still teems with life. Pieter Bruegel was nicknamed “peasant Bruegel” because he was one of the first artists to focus on painting the common people as…
writing
Entwined – A Poem
This painting is a little bit out of left field for my ekphrastic series, as it doesn’t really depict food, or eating. However, hummingbirds do like to sup on red passionflowers. And red passionflowers do bear a fruit, with apparently…
The Wife of Robert Gordon – A Poem
There is so much going on here, not only in this painting, but in this painting’s title: The Contest for the Bouquet: The Family of Robert Gordon in Their New York Dining-Room. Robert Gordon was a banker, merchant, and art…
Spring – A Poem
The Met descibes Spring as Cephas Giovanni Thompson’s finest work. He also has a companion piece, entitled Autumn. Thompson’s Spring portrait is a misty romantic and sentimental piece, which got me thinking romantically, and sentimentally. It seems to me the…
Apples – A Poem
The form I’ve chosen here is ars poetica, essentially a poem about writing poems. I thought it apt, because when I think “apple”, I don’t just think of one. I think of many, just as Matisse has painted. And so,…
Life According to Vegetables – A Poem
The Peales were a family of artists, agriculturalists and scientists. James Peale was the brother of Charles Willson Peale, whose sons were also artists, agriculturalists etc, one of whom, Raphaelle, I’ve written about previously. At first glance, the colours, and…
So You Think I’ve Stopped Writing Recipes?
This website started as a way to record my favourite recipes for my daughter. Lately, all I’ve been uploading is poem after poem after poem. Google thinks my website is only about food, and, technically, it still is. My poetry…
Nightcap – A Poem
There’s something cheeky about this trompe l’oeil painting, that seems to suggest someone’s raided the pantry for a little nightcap. From the Art Institute Chicago description: “In Just Dessert, the exotic clashes with the quotidian—Maraschino liqueur, half a coconut, and Smyrna figs…
Nini in the Garden – A Poem
This painting is of Nini Lopez in the garden next to Renoir’s Montmatre studio in Paris at 12 rue Cortot. Nini was one of Renoir’s favourite models, appearing in several of Renoir’s rue Cortot garden paintings, as well as other…
Masquerade Ball at the Ritz – A Poem
If you click on the source link in the caption below, you’ll get a chance to see this incredibly detailed painting up close. Madrazo painted many scenes of Parisian nightlife in the late 19th and early 20th century, always with…
A Cosey Corner – A Poem
What’s interesting about this painting is that it’s a blend of the English, and the American. The Met tells us that American Frank Millet (1846-1912) lived in the Cotswolds for a time, and his home was a transatlantic centre for…
The Kitchen Servants – A Poem
There’s more going on in this painting than at first appears. From The Met description: “Sorgh inflects a domestic scene with the art of still life. Two maids clean fish and peel vegetables in the foreground, surrounded by gleaming brass…
