Italiano
Little is known about the life of the Dutch painter Matthias Stomer.
We know he was born in 1600 near Utrecht, and that, passionate about Caravaggio’s paintings, he moved to Italy at the age of 30, perhaps to follow in the footsteps left by the master of Baroque art.
He will live in Italy, precisely in the south, for the rest of his life.
One of the “cultural shocks” that the Dutch painter probably faced was that of the “macaroni eaters“, an ordinary presence in Southern Italy’s cities.
The pasta was boiled in large cauldrons on street corners, seasoned with lard and grated cheese, pepper or oregano (it will take another 200 years for the tomato sauce to become common).
Sold as today’s “street-food“, its consumers ate it with their bare hands, without worrying too much about the hygienic conditions.
Now, We can’t know what Stromer thought of all this. Surely he did not remain indifferent, since he represented one of these “pasta eaters” (still not called “spaghetti” at that time).
The painting, dated around 1630, can be admired at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.
But if you are more interested in the pasta itself than the paintings depicting pasta, I have some excellent equipment to recommend!
