Event

Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy

Once again, Literary Affairs is excited to partner with ArtBites to offer a delectable art adventure. Starting at LACMA, a docent will lead us on a private tour of the museum's upcoming world-class exhibit Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His legacy. Following the tour, we will deepen our exploration of Caravaggio's passionate life and art with a talk and Italian cooking class by Maite Goméz-Rejón of ArtBites.

About the Exhibition:
Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy introduces the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), one of the most popular artists of the past, rivaling in fame both Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The stories of Caravaggio's life are legend, more myth than history, describing traits of personality, including passion and brutality, that came to describe the unique qualities of his work. He revolutionized painting in Rome at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. The exhibition, made up of 56 works in all, including a record eight works by Caravaggio himself, covers the evolution of his style. Caravaggio's legacy is expressed in work by about twenty artists from Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands who carried into the late 17th century the strangeness, beauty and raw emotion of his work.

About the Cooking Class:
After the tour, meet Maite Gomez-Rejon, former museum educator, chef, and founder of ArtBites, at Surfas Test Kitchen to explore the history of Italian cuisine from ancient Rome through Baroque Italy.

Italy has always seen food and cooking as an art. In fact, the Ancient Romans were the first in the western world to write a cookbook, the 5th century De re coquinaria (On Cooking) attributed to Apicius. From the Renaissance forward, the church was the main patron of the arts, employing artists of such stature as Caravaggio. It also employed the finest chefs and sommeliers in Italy. While sipping Italian wine, prepare and enjoy an Italian meal inspired by historic cookbooks, savoring the dishes eaten by Caravaggio and his patrons.