ONLINE ART HISTORY COURSE
Eating Right in the Renaissance: Food and Feasting in Art

Course Description:

Gluttony:  "O gluttony, it is to thee we owe our griefs!"
- Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400)

Delighting in a good meal is a primal pleasure, and most people construct their diets according to a combination of individual preference and spontaneous inspiration in the grocery-store aisle. However, in the Renaissance, food carried deeper meaning. Eating was more strictly controlled and monitored by history, tradition, and medical theory. These lectures will examine how depictions of food and feasting reveal the care and attention individuals employed in constructing their lives. Artistic depictions of food will serve as representations of ideal health, morality, and social standing. Along the way, we will learn how to eat right according to the rules of Renaissance art, philosophy, devotion, and daily life.

Instructor:

Laurinda Dixon is a specialist in northern European Renaissance art. Currently retired, she served as the William F. Tolley Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities at Syracuse University for many years. Her scholarship considers the intersection of art and science - particularly alchemy, medicine, astrology, and music - from the fifteenth though the nineteenth centuries. She has lectured widely in both the USA and Europe, and is the author of many articles, reviews, and eleven books, including Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine (1995), Bosch (2003), and The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500-1700 (2013). Laurinda holds a Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, as well as a degree in piano performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with discussion forum, videos of recordings, syllabus, and reading list.

Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE ART HISTORY LECTURES

Optional Readings:
Readings to be provided to students in PDF format prior to the beginning of course.

Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.

• ALL LECTURES WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT YOUR CONVENIENCE IN OUR VIDEO LIBRARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE COURSE

LECTURE 1 - BEYOND JENNY CRAIG

- Wednesday, October 5

New diets seem to appear every day in our modern world, where getting slim is a perennial quest. But in the Renaissance, there was no “one size fits all” way to eat, and losing weight was not a goal of dieting.  Food was only part of a holistic lifestyle, constructed by physicians in consideration of each person’s unique temperament, astrological sign, appearance, occupation, and choice of friends, among other things.  This lecture focuses on the Tacuinum Sanititus, a beautifully illustrated manual of health that exists today only in manuscript form.  Selected images from this important source serve as a Renaissance guide to eating well and maintaining a long and healthy life.

LECTURE 2 - FOOD FOR THOUGHT

- Wednesday, October 12

In the Renaissance, certain common foods served dual roles as nurturers of the flesh and as reminders of Christianity morality. Their appearance in art reminded viewers of acceptable beliefs and behaviors in a world where the boundaries of civic law and religious tradition were blurred. Certain foods were difficult to obtain, and what, when, and how much a person ate was tightly controlled not only by supply and demand, but also by civic sumptuary laws. Imagine fearing the “food police,” who were empowered to issue fines and sentences for the abuse and overuse of certain foods. Meat was among the most problematic, and, as a subject in art, often communicated political opinions, moral expectations, and class divisions.

LECTURE 3 - CONSUMING PASSIONS

- Wednesday, October 19

Renaissance art and intellectual traditions were blatant in their representations of sexual imagery, and audiences were not as squeamish about overt eroticism as they are today. The medical tradition of the Doctrine of Signatures assigned meanings to fruits and vegetables based on their resemblance to certain body parts.  As a result, images of abundant phallic and vulvar food often embody clever visual puns with moral underpinnings. Furthermore, both lust and gluttony were among the seven deadly sins that were punishable in hell.  Representations of both pastimes are among the most entertaining – and meaningful- images in art.

(Advisory: This lecture rated R for sexual imagery, nudity, and profanity.)

Laurinda Dixon is a specialist in northern European Renaissance art. Currently retired, she served as the William F. Tolley Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities at Syracuse University for many years. Her scholarship considers the intersection of art and science - particularly alchemy, medicine, astrology, and music - from the fifteenth though the nineteenth centuries. She has lectured widely in both the USA and Europe, and is the author of many articles, reviews, and eleven books, including Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine (1995), Bosch (2003), and The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500-1700 (2013). Laurinda holds a Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, as well as a degree in piano performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.