Extra Matter

The kit in kitchens

I’m just back from the 3rd Annual Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food, with a bulging notebook and a couple of interviews. While those come to a boil, I wanted to share a wonderful new (to me) website from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. As the website explains:

ALMA links these depictions of pre-industrial objects, dating from the late Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, in paintings and prints to examples of similar material objects. The ALMA database can be searched extensively for the relation between object and depiction. Research results are published in the ALMA showcases.

At the Symposium Dr Alexandra Gaba-van Dongen presented a selection of examples from the ALMA showcase, including this thorough examination of some Van Gogh still-lifes.

Fascinating stuff, that I think could be a very useful resource for anyone interested in food culture as depicted in art.

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