{"id":1970,"date":"2020-11-20T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T08:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uncommonground.pl\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2020-11-20T09:20:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T08:20:39","slug":"visual-field-2-carpaccio-or-eating-with-your-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uncommonground.pl\/en\/visual-field-2-carpaccio-or-eating-with-your-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual field. 2 – Carpaccio or eating with your eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Naming does not exhaust the topic – the list of products with art as part of their names is just as long, if not even longer. Such verbal games use artists\u2019 names as well. The conclusion is simple: associations with art are found attractive by representatives of almost all professions – bakers, plumbers, accountants, bankers, new technology experts or craftsmen. Among them – by a barkeeper from Venice very sensitive to colour nuances, to whom we will return in a bit. What is it about art that makes people so eager to wield it at every opportunity and put as a label on everything?Nothing can stimulate the imagination as much as art, and nothing is better than artistic provenance or at least distant kinship to give charm to mundane things. The world is full of self-made geniuses like Janko the Musician, who can easily see art where others need someone to point a finger at it. And there are those – probably the majority – who, like Mr Jourdain, the protagonist of Moli\u00e8re\u2019s The Bourgeois Gentleman, discover with much self-admiration that they have been speaking prose all their life.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italians do it better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Italians are no doubt virtuosos when it comes to talking about themselves and their heritage – they play with form and let it resound properly. And they often do it better and in a more interesting way than the rest of the world. They do not spread their cultural capital too thin – they know how fragile it is and do not run the risk of exhausting, devaluing or discrediting it. The reason is probably their love for their own culture – sincere and often unconditional, even though they sometimes use it for obvious business purposes.On the Italian Peninsula a phrase la bella figura is used, which is difficult to translate without losing its meaning and charm. The significance of this term lies in the fact that it expresses the Italian way of perceiving reality and at the same time depicts the Italian culture in general \u2013 it contains both sprezzatura, first mentioned as early as in the 16th century by the writer Baldassare Castiglione, and dolce vita. But bella figura is more than just a nonchalant elegance or postcard hedonism. It is not limited to good appearance, taste or refined superficies – it is a philosophy and a lifestyle. It comprises proper manners, presentability, conversational skills, charm, ability to make unconstrained (even though fully thought out and created) impression. All this results from constant communing with beauty and understanding its value, not only in aesthetic, but also in social and intellectual terms. Garments form only a part of this spectacle – a very important one, true, but equally important roles are played by art, cuisine, surroundings, interiors, all aspects of everyday and festive life – from the manner of decorating a table with flowers, through choosing the right shirt collar, all the way to how confection is packed at a pasticceria. So nobody should feel surprised that the name of one of the world\u2019s most famous appetisers or the name of a popular drink were taken from artists.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carpaccio, Bellini and Titian at Harry\u2019s Bar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of the famous Harry\u2019s Bar, used to name his hors d\u2019oeuvres and drinks after the greatest painters active in Serenissima. Bellini, so widely known nowadays, is a combination of peach juice and bubbled specialty from the Veneto region and from Venice itself – Prosecco. Cipriani was inspired by the shade of pink (which today could be compared to Millennial Pink) which Giovanni Bellini had liked to use in his works – just take a look at the colour of robes on the paintings Madonna and Child Blessing or Madonna and Child with Saints. And an inspiration for the carpaccio dish was deep ruby often seen in the works by Vittore Carpaccio, to name for instance Two Venetian Ladies or The Birth of the Virgin Mary. Bloody shades of red had counted among the painter\u2019s favourite, so it comes as no surprise that they reminded Cipriani of the colour of raw beef. The dish itself he invented for Amalia Nani Mocenigo, who was recommended to eat raw meat due to her anemia. Slices of beef thin as parchment and served with a bit of sauce and arugula seemed the most subtle form in which rawness can be accepted. Today, carpaccio is known all other the world, also in many other versions with sirloin replaced by beet or tuna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n