While food is my inspiration in life ~ the gift of nourishment and pleasure ~ art is often my inspiration when it comes to food. And this time, it’s Michaelangelo’s Pietà.
Starry Night – Van Gogh was truly a genius.
The Son of Man – Brilliant.
The Pietà – We can all agree that Michaelangelo was one of a kind.
The Pietà (Italian pronunciation: [pjeˈta]) is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ. When Christ and the Virgin are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament, the subject is strictly called a Lamentation in English, although Pietà is often used for this as well, and is the normal term in Italian.
I had the opportunity to view this masterpiece while visiting Rome and The Vatican in 1997 – oh my, it’s been awhile.
A famous example by Michelangelo was carved from a block of marble and is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. The body of Christ is different from most earlier Pietà statues, which were usually smaller and in wood. The Virgin is also unusually youthful, and in repose, rather than the older, sorrowing Mary of most Pietàs. She is shown as youthful for two reasons; God is the source of all beauty and she is one of the closest to God, also the exterior is thought as the revelation of the interior (the virgin is morally beautiful). The Pietà with the Virgin Mary is also unique among Michelangelo’s sculptures, because it was the only one he ever signed, upon hearing that visitors thought it had been sculpted by Cristoforo Solari, a competitor. His signature is carved as “MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA[T]”
I can’t wait to return to Italy for all the beauty, the art, the inspiration, and the food!
For now, I’ll reminisce, and eat pizza, inspired by the Pietà.
A sincere and heartfelt thank you to Tommy Graves, an outstanding local chef who gifted me with the flavors magic of his homemade sourdough pizza crust.
Amazing.
Pizza Pietà
1 pre-baked sourdough pizza crust (ask Tommy for his recipe)
1 Tbs. lemon oil
4 oz. Swiss Gruyere cheese, grated (you can NEVER have enough cheese)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
rosemary sea salt
freshly ground pepper
fresh baby spinach leaves
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Brush the pre-baked crust with the lemon oil. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes on a parchment lined or cornmeal sprinkled baking sheet, until the cheese begins to bubble and turn brown.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over high heat and sauté the mushrooms with rosemary salt until caramelized.
Top the cheese with the mushrooms and spinach.
Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.
Imagine you are in Italy. Be amazed. Dream about never returning to reality.
And, thank you to all of you who helped inspire me to be inspired by art in the kitchen! You know who you are: Greg, Grace, Brian, Tommy, Valerie…you are my crew!
