Pancetta vs. Guanciale

Posted on September 8, 2022 by babbityjean

These two Italian meats have many similarities, but also many differences.  Both come from pork and are cured to prevent bacteria growth and to achieve their distinct tastes.  Both are salty and fatty but without the smokiness of American bacon.  Both lend distinct flavors to classic Italian recipes.

Pancetta is made from pork belly, whereas guanciale is made from pork cheeks and is fattier.  Besides salt, the curing spices for pancetta typically are pepper, fennel, allspice and nutmeg.  Guanciale is traditionally cured using pepper, rosemary, thyme and garlic.  The spice combination can change depending on the region of Italy where it is made.  The curing process is similar:  The meat is rubbed with generous amounts of salt and spices and then hung to dry in a cool, dry room.  Pancetta cures for about four weeks; guanciale usually cures for a longer period, even up to six months.

The cured meats are naturally preserved thanks to a large amount of salt and to the removal of excess water.  Microorganisms cannot breed in these conditions, allowing the meat to be stored safely in a cool room for months in the original packaging.  However, they must be consumed within two weeks after they are opened.

Both pancetta and guanciale are among the fattiest meats you can find.  Pancetta contains 426 calories and 39 grams of fat per 3.5 ounces…more than in an equivalent amount of chocolate.  Guanciale contains 589 calories and 59 grams of fat per 3.5 ounces, nearly twice more than the same amount of whipped cream.  However, the fat in both is non-saturated and can safely be consumed in servings of less than 1.5 ounces per day.  Because of the high salt content, these meats are not recommended for people with kidney disease, chronic heart problems or diabetes.

Guanciale is primarily a central Italy specialty, whereas pancetta is widely used throughout the country.  Pancetta is more readily available than guanciale in the United States and is sold thinly sliced, chopped into cubes and occasionally found in a slab.  Because both meats are cured, they can be eaten on their own, served on a meat platter or consumed with bread.   Usually, however, they are cooked with other ingredients.

Due to flavor and texture differences, pancetta and guanciale are traditionally used in different dishes.  However, many recipes specify that each can be a substitute for the other.  Both are used in pasta, soup, salad and numerous other dishes.  Guanciale is famous in certain Roman dishes like bucatini all’amatriciana, spaghetti alla carbonara, and rigatoni alla zozzona.  Pancetta appears in fettuccine all’abruzzese and more generally in risotto, vegetable and pasta dishes like pappardelle with peas, asparagus and pancetta.

Both pancetta and guanciale are beloved by non-vegetarians in Italy and in America, especially among Italophiles and foodies.

Posted in Cucina italiana, English, Foto, Italia, Roma | Leave a comment

What the Ermine Saw

Posted on September 1, 2022 by babbityjean

The last ten years have seen the publication of several books on the travels and travails of famous art coveted by art collectors and thieves.  The Hare with Amber Eyes traces a Jewish family’s collection of Japanese netsuke from Japan to Europe and through the Nazis and beyond.  The Lady in Gold is a Nazi art theft saga of the famous Gustav Klimt portrait.  Plunder recounts Napoleon’s theft of the Veronese painting, Marriage at Cana, from a Venice church to populate his Paris Museum.  Now comes What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Mysterious Portrait.

Around 1490, 16-year-old Cecilia Gallerani sat for her portrait before Leonardo da Vinci.  The painting was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan; Cecilia was his mistress.  Ludovico was captivated not only by her beauty, but also by her talents in poetry and music.  In her lap is a white ermine (supposedly added at a later phase in the painting); it is a figure representing the duke, who was called ermellino bianco.  The animal not only represents his political power and viciousness, but also symbolizes pregnancy and childbirth leading art historians to believe that Cecilia was pregnant at the time.  She later gave birth to their son Cesare.

The painting hung in Ludovico’s private rooms when he married 15-year-old Beatrice while Cecilia and Cesare lived in the same building.  After Beatrice forced them to leave, Cecilia took the painting with her.  After her death, the painting was lost for more than two centuries.

Around 1800, the Polish Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski discovered the painting when he was on tour of Napoleonic Italy.  He gave the portrait to his mother, Princess Izabella Dorota Czartoryski, who kept it in the family for generations.  An avid art collector, she founded a museum to store her most prized possessions and other European antiquities.  During the Polish rebellion to attempt to overthrow Russian rule in 1830, the family relocated “Lady with an ermine” to Paris for protection.  At the end of the 19th century, it was brought back to Krakow to be part of the Czartoryski Museum.

During World War II, the scale of art theft under the Nazis was unprecedented.  Hitler was undaunted when it came to acquiring art for the Führermuseum that was planned in Austria.  The Gestapo succeeded in taking “Lady with an ermine,” which a housekeeper had concealed in a pillowcase in the Czartoryski estate in eastern Poland.  It came to be hung in the summer residence in Bavaria of Hans Frank, the governor-general who oversaw the Holocaust and supervised the massacre of Poland’s Jewish population. 

In 1945, when Frank was apprehended by American soldiers, the portrait was found.  A well-known image captures the moment when “Lady with an ermine” is given to Polish art historian Karol Estreicher by the “Monuments Men,” who assisted the Allies in its recovery.

The painting is extraordinary in many ways.  First, it is in remarkable condition for being more than 530 years old.  It is rather small (15” by 21”) and executed in oil on walnut board.  Oil painting was relatively new to Italy at the time.  It had been introduced from the Netherlands in the 1470s and was a revolutionary departure in a country still wedded to frescoes.  “Lady with an ermine” is only one of four known Leonardo portraits of women; in fact, there are only about 15 surviving paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, depending on attribution.

As shown in his many surviving sketchbooks, Leonardo was obsessed with the dynamics of movement.  Before him, portraits had been static, with the sitter facing the artist square on.  Leonardo introduced contrapposto, in which Cecilia is turned to her right with her face turned toward the left.  The ermine twists in a similar manner as she strokes it.  Her hands are disproportionately large, possibly because Leonardo tended to paint heads and hands and bodies separately, again as shown in his sketchbooks.

Leonardo pioneered a method of shading known as sfumato or smokiness as shown in the subtle tonal gradations on Cecilia’s neck and chest.  He also used a special technique of adding “catch lights” or dots of white paint to the irises of her eyes as though reflecting light from an outside source, which lends vivacity to the young woman’s appearance.

Throughout the late 20th and early 21st century, “Lady with an ermine” has traveled the world more than any other Leonardo painting.  While it resides today in the Krakow Museum, the painting was brought back to Italy in 2019 to celebrate 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).

Other posts on Leonardo da Vinci:

  • The Mona Lisa of Montecitorio                                             7/1/2022
  • Salvator Mundi: The Ongoing Saga                                       12/9/2021
  • Paper and Art                                                                          2/25/2021
  • The Bridge that Spans Centuries                                            1/16/2020
  • What’s on the Menu for the Last Supper?                              3/22/2018
  • Leonardo’s Paintings: What’s in a Price?                              3/8/2018
  • The two Leonardos                                                                 9/14/2017
  • The Leonardo Series                                                               1/14/2016
  • The Theft of the Mona Lisa                                                    11/12/2015
  • Leonardo da Vinci: 10 Things You May Not Know              7/2/2015
Posted in Animali, Arte, English, Film, Foto, Italia, Libri, Milano, Storia, Venezia, Viaggio | 2 Comments

Ciò che vide l’ermellino

Posted on September 1, 2022 by babbityjean

Gli ultimi dieci anni hanno visto la pubblicazione di numerosi libri sui viaggi ei travagli dell’arte famosa ambita dai collezionisti d’arte. The Hare with Amber Eyes ripercorre la collezione di una famiglia ebrea di netsuke giapponesi, dal Giappone all’Europa e attraverso i nazisti e oltre. The Lady in Gold è una saga di furti d’arte nazista del famoso ritratto di Gustav Klimt. Plunder racconta il furto da parte di Napoleone del dipinto veronese, Matrimonio a Cana, da una chiesa di Venezia per  il suo Museo di Parigi. Ora arriva Ciò che vide l’ermellino: Lo straordinario viaggio del ritratto più misterioso di Leonardo da Vinci.

Intorno al 1490, la sedicenne Cecilia Gallerani si sedette per il suo ritratto davanti a Leonardo da Vinci. Il dipinto fu commissionato da Ludovico Sforza, duca di Milano, amante di Cecilia. Ludovico era affascinato non solo dalla sua bellezza, ma anche dai suoi talenti poetici e musicali. In grembo tiene un ermellino bianco (presumibilmente aggiunto in una fase successiva del dipinto); è una figura rappresentante il duca, che era chiamato ermellino bianco. L’animale non solo rappresenta il suo potere politico e la sua malvagità, ma simboleggia anche la gravidanza e il parto, portando gli storici dell’arte a credere che Cecilia fosse incinta in quel momento. Infatti in seguito diede alla luce il loro figlio Cesare.

Il dipinto era appeso nelle stanze private di Ludovico quando sposò la quindicenne Beatrice mentre Cecilia e Cesare vivevano nello stesso palazzo. Dopo che Beatrice li costrinse ad andarsene, Cecilia portò via con sé il dipinto. Dopo la morte di Gallerani, il dipinto andò perduto per più di due secoli.

Intorno al 1800, il principe polacco Adam Jerzy Czartoryski ritrovò il dipinto durante un viaggio nell’Italia napoleonica. Donò il ritratto a sua madre, la principessa Izabella Dorota Czartoryski, che lo tenne in famiglia per generazioni. Un’appassionata collezionista d’arte, fondò un museo per conservare i suoi beni più preziosi e altre antichità europee. Durante la ribellione polacca nel tentativo di rovesciare il dominio russo nel 1830, la famiglia trasferì la “Dama con l’ermellino” a Parigi per proteggerlo. Alla fine del XIX secolo, fu riportato a Cracovia per far parte del Museo Czartoryski. 

Durante la seconda guerra mondiale, la portata del furto d’arte sotto i nazisti era senza precedenti. Hitler fu imperterrito nel recuperare opere d’arte per il Führermuseum, progettato in Austria. La Gestapo riuscì ad accaparrarsi la “Dama con l’ermellino”, che una domestica aveva nascosto in una federa nella tenuta di Czartoryski nella Polonia orientale. Fu appeso nella residenza estiva di Hans Frank in Baviera. Frank era il governatore generale che supervisionò l’Olocausto e supervisionò il massacro della popolazione ebraica polacca. 

Nel 1945, quando Frank fu arrestato dai soldati americani, fu ritrovato il ritratto. Un’immagine ben nota cattura il momento in cui “La signora con l’ermellino” viene donata allo storico dell’arte polacco Karol Estreicher dai “Monuments Men”, che hanno assistito gli Alleati nel suo recupero.

Il dipinto è straordinario in molti modi. Innanzitutto, è in condizioni straordinarie per avere più di 500 anni. È piuttosto piccolo (15” per 21”) e fu eseguito ad olio su tavola di noce. La pittura a olio era relativamente nuova per l’Italia all’epoca. Fu introdotto dai Paesi Bassi negli anni ’70 del Quattrocento e fu una partenza rivoluzionaria in un paese ancora legato agli affreschi. La “Dama con l’ermellino” è solo uno dei quattro ritratti conosciuti di donne dipinti da Leonardo; infatti, ci sono solo circa 15 dipinti sopravvissuti di Leonardo da Vinci, a seconda dell’attribuzione.

Come mostrato nei suoi numerosi taccuini sopravvissuti, Leonardo era ossessionato dalla dinamica del movimento.  Prima di lui, i ritratti erano statici, con il soggetto direttamente rivolto verso l’artista. Leonardo introdusse il contrapposto, in cui Cecilia è girata alla sua destra con il viso rivolto a sinistra. L’ermellino si attorciglia in modo simile mentre lo accarezza. Le sue mani sono sproporzionatamente grandi, forse perché Leonardo tendeva a dipingere teste, mani e corpi separatamente, sempre come mostrato nei suoi taccuini.

Leonardo aprì la strada a un metodo di ombreggiatura noto come sfumato, come mostrato nelle sottili gradazioni tonali sul collo e sul petto di Cecilia. Usò anche una tecnica speciale per aggiungere “luci di cattura” o punti di vernice bianca alle iridi dei suoi occhi come se riflettessero la luce da una fonte esterna, che conferisce vivacità all’aspetto della giovane donna.

Tra la fine del XX e l’inizio del XXI secolo, la “Dama con l’ermellino” ha viaggiato per il mondo più di qualsiasi altro dipinto di Leonardo. Mentre oggi risiede al Museo di Cracovia, il dipinto è stato riportato in Italia nel 2019 per celebrare i 500 anni dalla morte di Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).

Altri post su Leonardo da Vinci:

• La Gioconda di Montecitorio                                                          1/7/2022

• Salvator Mundi: La saga in corso                                                   9/12/2021

• Carta e Arte                                                                                     25/2/2021

• Il ponte che attraversa i secoli                                                         16/1/2020

• Cosa c’è nel menu dell’Ultima Cena?                                              22/3/2018

• Dipinti di Leonardo: cosa c’è in un prezzo?                                    8/3/2018

• I due Leonardo                                                                                14/9/2017

• La Serie Leonardo                                                                           14/1/2016

• Il furto della Gioconda                                                                    12/11/2015

• Leonardo da Vinci: 10 cose che potresti non sapere                       2/7/2015

Posted in Animali, Arte, Film, Foto, Italia, Italiano, Libri, Milano, Storia, Venezia, Viaggio | 1 Comment