- 注释版
- 纯净版
[1] The beloved food is the star of a new exhibition of still lifes. Cath Pound extolls the virtues of cheese in art history, from the Dutch Masters to the present day.
Points：
1. still lifes 静物画
2. extoll [ɪk'stɒl ] 赞美
Eg：他对他的新车赞不绝口。
He keeps extolling the merits of his new car.
virtue [ˈvɜrtʃu] 美德; 德行; 价值; 长处
Eg：（1）它的另一个突出优点当然就是经久耐用。
Its other great virtue, of course, is its hard-wearing quality.
他靠意志力赢了这场比赛.
He had won the game by virtue of his strength of will.
（注：virtue...of 有......的优点）
Reading Guide：
第一段是文章的总起段，“奶酪不仅可以吃，还能激发艺术灵感”------这就是奶酪的艺术价值所在。
[2]“Cheese,” as the US intellectual Clifton Fadiman put it, is “milk’s leap toward immortality.”The humble food stuff has been muse to some of the greatest artists from the Dutch Golden Age to the 21st Century.
Points：
1. intellectual [ˌɪntlˈɛktʃuəl] 智力的; 智力发达的
Eg： 他一直是那种兼具美貌与智慧的人中龙凤。
He has always been that rarity, a glamorous intellectual.
as sb put it 正如某人所说，正如某人认为的那样
put的意思是理解 表达，说
as在这里是一个连词，引导非限定性定语从句，在从句中as做形式宾语it的真正宾语，后面的整句话可看做是先行词
这句话还可以换成 sb puts it that...
3.immortality [ˌɪmɔrˈtæləti] 不朽，流芳百世
4.muse v. 沉思; 冥想; 谨慎地考虑; 谨慎地说 n. 缪斯;才气，灵感
Eg： a musician whose muse has left him.(=who can no longer write music well) 失去了灵感的音乐家（再也写不出好作品的音乐家）
Reading Guide：
进一步描绘出奶酪对于荷兰绘画艺术的影响。
[3] There is no denying the fact that it is the star of the Mauritshuis’s new exhibition, Slow Food : Still-Lifes of the Golden Age. The canvases overflow with sumptuous edibles and tableware, from lobster and candied fruits to delicate façon de Venise glasses and elegant golden tazze, but it is the cheeses that draw the eye.
Points：
there is no denying that 不可否认的是
Eg：不可否认的,这类社会问题非常普遍。
There is no denying that this social phenomenon is widespread.
canvase [ˈkænvəs] 帆布，油画布
3. sumptuous [ˈsʌmptʃuəs] 豪华的; 奢侈的; 美奂美轮
Eg：我们在富丽堂皇的环境中用餐。
We dined in sumptuous surroundings.
tazze（意大利语） 茶杯，咖啡杯
draw the eye 吸引眼球
Eg：明亮, 强烈的色彩吸引眼球.
Bright, strong colours draw the eye.
Reading Guide：
荷兰的莫瑞泰斯（Mauritshuis）皇家美术馆举行了一场以“慢食物：黄金时代的静物展”在这些艺术画作中，最为亮眼的就是cheese了。
[4] Depicted in exquisitely detailed stacks or arranged enticingly in straw baskets, they demand to be savoured , as Quentin Buvelot, the Mauritshuis’s infectiously enthusiastic curator is well aware. “That is why we called the exhibition Slow Food. With a meal you have to take your time to consume it and we say take your time to consume the paintings.”
Points：
1. depict [dɪˈpɪkt] 描绘，描述，绘画
2. exquisitely [ɛkˈskwɪzɪtlɪ] 精致地; 强烈地; 异常地
Eg：他觉得她异常美丽。
He found her exquisitely beautiful.
stack 垛，干草堆; 层积; 整个的藏书架排列
enticing [ɪnˈtaɪsɪŋ] 迷人的
Eg：这提议太有诱惑力，使人难以拒绝。
The offer was too enticing to refuse
savour [ˈseɪvə] 味; 味道; 滋味; 兴趣
Eg：（1）.要想充分体验这种酒的醇美,你需要慢慢地去品尝。
You need to savour this wine to get its full flavor.
（2）.这汤有洋葱味。
The soup has a savour of onion.
infectious 有传染性的; 易传染的; 有感染力的
Eg：她做任何事情都充满一种极富感染力的热情。
She radiates an infectious enthusiasm for everything she does.
curator [kjʊˈreɪtə(r)] 馆长; 监护人; 管理者
consume [kənˈsum] 消耗，消费; 耗尽，毁灭
Reading Guide：
策展人将展览称之为“慢食物”——好的展览就像美食一样，需要细细品味。
[5] And consume is certainly what the viewer yearns to do when confronted with Pieter Claesz’s basket of cheeses, a dish of butter curls balancing precariously on top of them. One can sense the delight this masterly painter took in depicting the crevices left by a knife as it cut through the truckle, leaving a trembling flake which demands to be plucked off and eaten by hungry fingers.
Points：
yearn [jɜrn] 渴望，切盼，向往; 想念，怀念，向往，留恋，恋慕
Eg：现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。
Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.
2. confront [kənˈfrʌnt] 碰到，遇到
Eg：我们必须乐观地面对未来.
We must confront future with optimism.
curls [kə:lz] 卷曲物，卷曲; 盘旋; 缠绕
precariously [prɪˈkɛrɪəslɪ] 不安全地; 危险地; 碰机会地; 不稳定地
Eg：她把身子探出窗外,真危险.
She leaned precariously out of the window.
5. masterly [ˈmæstərli] 熟练的，技艺高超的
Eg：他隐瞒自己真实动机的手段十分高明。
His concealment of his true motives was masterly.
6. crevice [ˈkrɛvɪs] 裂缝，缺口
Eg：一只蟑螂爬过了地板的裂缝.
A roach spans a crevice in the floor.
truckle ['trʌkəl] 小轮，脚轮
tremble [ˈtrɛmbəl] 发抖; 焦虑; 颤动; 轻轻摇晃
flake [fleɪk] 小薄片，碎片; 火花; 食品搁架; 昏过去，不省人事
10. plucked off 从…摘下; 拔下; 撕下; 降级
Eg：我要把死叶子从这株植物上摘掉。
I'm going to pluck the dead leaves off this plant.
Reading Guide：
画家Pieter Claesz的画作里cheese的细节展示。（在直播课程当中，会有这幅画的图片展示，配合文字来看更容易理解哦）
[6] Perhaps unsurprisingly some tried to see a warning against gluttony in the sensual depiction of texture, but Julie Hochstrasser, an expert in Dutch art and trade, firmly believes this is not the case. “The depictions are so luscious and enticing that I couldn’t believe it was simply a warning of what not to do,” she tells BBC Culture. Having uncovered contemporary physician’s manuals, which extolled the digestive properties of cheese and recommended its consumption at the end of a meal in order to ‘close the stomach,’ she found that in many detailed respects the paintings were simply following their recommendations.
Points：
gluttony [ˈɡlʌtni] 暴饮暴食; 善饥
Eg：暴食杀人胜刀剑.
Gluttony kill more than the sword.
luscious [ˈlʌʃəs] 美味的; 满足感官的; 过分甜美的; 性感的
Eg：(1)他沉浸在悦耳的乐曲中.
He bathed in luscious strains.
(2)她是个迷人的金发女郎.
She is a luscious blonde.
3. manual [ˈmænjuəl] 说明书; 手册
4. extoll [ɪk'stɒl] 赞美
5. digestive property 消化性能
Reading Guide：
对于这幅画的理解。
[7] The fact that the export of cheese played such an important role in the Dutch economy opened the way to an alternative interpretation. “Not as a warning against, but as a declaration of pride in the prosperity of this newly founded country.”
Points：
alternative interpretation 另外一种解释，另类诠释
Reading Guide：
奶酪在荷兰的经济价值，它的历史重要性和它的关键地位。
[8] This is most certainly evident in the stack of cheeses by Floris van Dijck. Dominating the canvas, they are rendered with the gravitas of rock, their economic value emphasised by the fact that they are placed on a table covered in red damask, an exceptionally expensive product at the time. “Just seeing it you know you’re in a rich household,” says Buvelot.
Points：
1. dominate [ˈdɑmɪneɪt] 支配，影响; 占有优势; 在…中具有最重要的特色
Eg：这本书预计会占据畅销书排行榜的榜首。
The book is expected to dominate the best-seller lists.
2. canvas [ˈkænvəs] 帆布; 油画布
3. render [ˈrɛndɚ] 使成为; 递交; 给予; 表达
Eg：我们打算向他们提供经济援助.
We are going to render them economic assistance.
4. gravitas [ˈɡrævɪˌtɑs] 庄严的举止，庄严
Eg：一本非常严肃的书。
A book of extraordinary gravitas.
damask [ˈdæməsk] 缎子，锦缎
exceptionally [ɪkˈsɛpʃənəlɪ] 例外地，异常地，特殊地
Eg：深秋的香山格外美丽.
The Fragrant Hills are exceptionally beautiful in late autumn.
household 家庭，家属
Reading Guide：
画家Floris van Dijck作品细节展示中再一次印证了cheese的经济价值。
[9] The highlight of the exhibition is undoubtedly Clara Peeters’ Still life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels. The large halved Gouda at the rear is portrayed in such astonishingly fine detail that one cannot help but desire to taste it, as indeed someone already has: the plugged hole left by a cheese taster’s scoop is clearly visible. In front sits a greenish cheese, probably from Edam, its peculiar hue attained from the horseradish or parsley juice added to the milk. The knife pointing out towards us offers enticement to try this extinct delicacy. It’s a format that must have pleased buyers as she painted four other very similar versions. Buvelot himself has a copy of it in his office. Does it make him hungry? “It makes me happy,” he laughs.
Points：
almond [ˈɑmənd] 杏树; 杏仁色
pretzel [ˈprɛtsəl] 椒盐卷饼
halve [hæv] 把…分成两半; 把…减半; 对分; 平摊
at the rear 在...后边
astonishingly [ə'stɒnɪʃɪŋlɪ] 令人惊讶地，惊人地
Eg: 它卓绝先进, 简单易用.
It is astonishingly advanced, yet intuitive and simple to use.
plug [plʌɡ] n.塞子; 插头 v.填塞，堵; 〈俚〉勤苦工作，用功
peculiar [pɪˈkjuljɚ] 古怪的; 异常的;特殊的
hue [hju] 色彩，色调; 外表，样子
parsley [ˈpɑrsli] 西芹，欧芹
enticement [ɪn'taɪsmənt] 诱惑，怂恿
Eg: 这项工作有那么多优惠待遇,使我难以拒绝.
There are so many enticement offers that I can not refuse the job.
delicacy [ˈdɛlɪkəsi] 精美; 美味佳肴; 敏锐，敏感; 世故，圆滑
Eg: 在精致和优雅中蕴含着时尚韵味。
It contains fashion flavor between delicacy and grace.
12. format [ˈfɔrmæt] 版式，形式
Reading Guide：
介绍了Clara Peeters的绘画作品细节。
[10] A century after the paintings featured in the exhibition, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, possibly France’s finest still-life painter, was portraying cheese in his own uniquely refined manner. He does not let them dominate the canvas in the manner of his Dutch predecessors but his exquisite feeling for colour, texture and tone cannot help but draw the viewer’s gaze. As Kenneth Bendiner, author of Food in Painting, puts it, “what makes Chardin different is his simplicity.” The emphasis is on the formal beauty of these objects and in this he excels.
Points：
in the manner of 照…的式样，做出…的样子
Eg: 这部讽刺作品有点狄更斯的风格。
It's a satire somewhat in the manner of Dickens.
predecessor [ˈpredəsesə(r)] 前任，前辈; 原有事物，前身
Reading Guide：
一个世纪以后，Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin用自己独特的绘画方式注重绘制奶酪的质感，颜色和色调吸引着大家的目光。
[11] A boxed cheese lies propped up against a wall on a simple rustic table in Chardin’s Jar of Apricots. Dainty cups and elegant wine glasses suggest it will be part of a simple yet refined afternoon tea, in tune with the culinary dictates of the day. In Still Life with Copper Pot, Cheese and Eggs he takes obvious delight in the texture of a small round cheese, a good third cut away to reveal its luscious golden interior.
Points：
1. prop up 支持，资助; 撑
Eg: 阿基米德说: “给我一个支点, 我可以撑起一个地球. ”
Archimedes said: Give me a pivot, I will prop up the earth.
rustic [ˈrʌstɪk] 乡村的，乡下的; 质朴的，朴素的; 粗鲁的
in tune with 与...协调 , 与...一致
Eg: (1) 她完全沉浸在了故事当中。
She is totally in tune with the story.
他的思维方式跟我们的完全一样。
He's totally in tune with our way of thinking.
culinary [ˈkʌlɪneri] 厨房的，烹饪的; 烹调用的
Eg: 她正在学习烹调.
She is studying culinary arts.
dictate [ˈdɪkteɪt] 口述; 命令，指示; 使听写; 控制，支配
Eg: 现在,我们有资格提出我们的要求.
We're now in a position to dictate our own demands.
interior [ɪnˈtɪriə(r)] 内部; 内地; 内政; 内心
Eg: 室内设计简约朴素，令人惬意。
The interior design is pleasingly simple.
Reading Guide：
画家Chardin的绘画对于当时历史时期，cheese地位的再一次印证。
[12] In the 19th Century Raphaele Peale, the first still-life painter in the US, savoured the yellow tones of a half-devoured snack in Cheese with Three Crackers. Antoine Vollon, hailed as a second Chardin, revelled in the beauty of a Brie laid out on a simple straw mat. No-one could infer a symbolic meaning in his work. It is a pure celebration of texture, form and tone.
Points：
tone [toʊn] 声调，语调; 色调，色泽，明暗
half-devoured 吃了一半的
devour 吞没; 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光
Eg: 他一口气读完那本新侦探小说.
He devoured the new detective story.
hail 下冰雹; 如冰雹般地降下; 致敬; 打招呼;赞扬（或称颂）
Eg：（1）向新冠军致敬。
Hail to the new champion.
hail from 来自
hail a taxi 去叫辆计程车
revel [ˈrevl] 陶醉; 狂欢作乐; 扬扬得意
Eg: 她陶醉在自己的成功之中。
She seemed to revel in her success.
lay out 设计; 展示; 安排; 陈设
Eg: 我在考虑我们要提出的计划.
I'm thinking about the plan we're going to lay out.
mat 席子，垫子
infer 推断; 猜想，推理; 暗示; 意指
Reading Guide：
在十九世纪，两大画家（Raphaele Peale——美国第一静物画家，Antoine Vollon—— 被誉为第二个Chardin）他们与众不同的静物画当中cheese的绘画风格以及作品细节的描述，作者在下一段总结出它们的共同特点。
[13] Until this point the portrayal of food, including cheese, was very much about enjoyment but in the 20th Century artists began to take a rather more experimental tone. René Magritte riffed on possibly his most famous work, Ceci n’est pas une pipe, by placing a framed painting of a Brie under a glass dome and declaring emphatically Ceci est un morceau de fromage (‘This is a piece of cheese’). A few years later Salvador Dalí was inspired by a particularly unctuous Camembert to create the clocks in The Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognised images in art history. Some saw the influence of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in the work but Dalí insisted they were nothing but “the tender, extravagant and solitary paranoiac-critical Camembert of time and space.”
Points：
1. riff [rɪf] 反复演奏即兴段
2. emphatically [ɪmˈfætɪklɪ] 强调地，断然地，明显地
Eg: 让人出丑显然不是我的策略。
Making people feel foolish is emphatically not my strategy.
fromage [frɔ'mɑʒ] 乳酪，干酪
unctuous [ˈʌŋktʃuəs] 油的; 油膏的; 似油的; 松软肥沃的
Eg: 他说话油腔滑调
He speaks in unctuous tones.
tender [ˈtɛndɚ] 纤弱的; 嫩的; 温柔的; 疼痛的
Eg: 将胡萝卜蒸至刚好变软。
Steam the carrots until they are just beginning to be tender.
extravagant [ɪkˈstrævəɡənt] 过度的; 奢侈浪费的; 放肆的
Eg: 对此不要有什么奢望。
Don't attach any extravagant hope to it.
7. solitary [ˈsɒlətri] 独自的，独立的; 单个的; 唯一的; 隐居的
Eg: 她喜欢独自长距离散步。
She enjoys long solitary walks.
8. paranoiac [ˌpærə'nɔɪæk] 偏执狂的
Eg: 妄想狂患者，疑虑症患者。这种病人有被迫害的幻觉。她毫不考虑别人的感情。
The paranoiac has delusions of persecution. She showed a blithe indifference to others'feelings.
Reading Guide：
在二十世纪之前，绘画作品对与奶酪的描绘总是和味觉的享受有关。而在二十世纪，艺术家们开始一种尝试性的，偏创新的调调。并且通过几个大师级画家的作品作为例子（这里边就包含达利最最有名的《记忆的永恒》。
[14] Cheese as an object of beauty in itself has recently been rediscovered by Christian Furr, famous for being the youngest artist ever to paint the Queen. The two subjects couldn’t be more different but he sees them as equally valid.
Points：
Christian Furr重新挖掘了cheese自身的魅力，（作为伊丽莎白二世画像的世上最年轻画家）虽然看似二种主题差别巨大，但是他却认为二者之间有密切的关系。
[15] Primarily drawn to their visual qualities he tells BBC Culture there is also an, “element of craft that I like to celebrate.” He has painted everything from a solid Beemster to a gently oozing Petit Langres against plain backgrounds carefully chosen to compliment the rich range of textures and tones of the cheeses. Intriguingly he has also found inspiration in mass produced cheeses such as Dairylea. “They have this humour about them that I really like,” he explains. In these, other meanings can inadvertently creep in. He recalls placing a Babybel decorated with a Union Jack in the middle of his studio. “It was just after Brexit and it looked quite lonely.”
Points：
ooze [uz] 渗出; 慢慢地消失或减退; 慢而稳地进步; 出众
Eg: 秘密会慢慢地泄漏.
The secret will ooze out.
2. intriguingly 有趣地，有魅力的
3. inadvertently [ˌɪnədˈvɜrtəntli] 漫不经心地，疏忽地; 非故意地
Eg: 我一疏忽按错了按钮。
I inadvertently pressed the wrong button.
creep爬行，匍匐; 缓慢地行进
Reading Guide：
Christian Furr的创新性体现在对于cheese元素的再塑造，他的想象力了得，有些灵感都是在不经意间迸发的（我们在直播课堂上可以对照图片一起感受）
[16]He has said that he wants his cheese paintings to express the full range of human emotions and also believes that you can tell a lot about someone from their taste in cheese. “And when you look at her work, it’s in keeping.” Furr’s own favourite cheese is mature Gouda which, as an heir to the Dutch masters, seems quite apt.
Points：
full range of 全方位的
Eg: 处于压力下的人容易发挥自己全部的潜力.
People under stress tend to express their full range of potential.
Gouda 古达干酪
apt 恰当的，适当的; 有…倾向的; 易于…的; 聪明的，灵巧的
Eg: （1）他是所有学生中最聪明的一个.
He is the most apt of all pupils.
（2）The remark was most apt.
那评论很恰当.
Reading Guide：
Christian Furr 利用cheese全方位的去描绘人们的情感，我们也透过他的刻画和喜好，知道了cheese的很多引申含义。
文章导读:
大家喜欢吃奶酪么？其实奶酪不仅种类多，味道醇美，它在绘画作品中不光是非常重要的元素，它还激发了很多艺术家的灵感（文章的标题“ The cheese inspired Dali” 达利只是诸多艺术家的其中一个，个人觉得应该改成The cheese inspired artists）。
在静物画中我们可以看到Pieter Claesz（第5段——奶酪的诱人之初体现在细节中，人们忍不住要尝一口，所以画作中就精致的体现出被人吃过的痕迹）；Floris van Dijck（第8段——奶酪的经济价值）；Clara Peeters（第九段）；Chardin（第11段——他的绘画风格：注重奶酪的质感和风格）；还有在19世纪，两大画家对于奶酪的独特刻画（第12段）；达利的作品《记忆的永恒》（第13段）；Christian Furr对于奶酪的再度挖掘（第14，15，16段）
作者对于每幅绘画作品的细节描述很详细，奶酪对于欧洲静物画作品的影响，包括奶酪的历史地位的讲述更是全面，但是文章的词汇量非常大，对于我们理解和学习是一大挑战哦！
学习建议：由于作品比较多，大家可以在课前把我标注出的段落先粗略浏览一遍，然后去网上搜搜这些图片，看了作品以后，我们再一起听课就会对理解的更加深刻哦，因为美好的食物（就像cheese一样）绝不仅仅是美味哦！
[1] The beloved food is the star of a new exhibition of still lifes. Cath Pound extolls the virtues of cheese in art history, from the Dutch Masters to the present day.
[2] “Cheese,” as the US intellectual Clifton Fadiman put it, is “milk’s leap toward immortality.”The humble food stuff has been muse to some of the greatest artists from the Dutch Golden Age to the 21st Century.
[3] There is no denying the fact that it is the star of the Mauritshuis’s new exhibition, Slow Food : Still-Lifes of the Golden Age. The canvases overflow with sumptuous edibles and tableware, from lobster and candied fruits to delicate façon de Venise glasses and elegant golden tazze, but it is the cheeses that draw the eye.
[4] Depicted in exquisitely detailed stacks or arranged enticingly in straw baskets, they demand to be savoured, as Quentin Buvelot, the Mauritshuis’s infectiously enthusiastic curator is well aware. “That is why we called the exhibition Slow Food. With a meal you have to take your time to consume it and we say take your time to consume the paintings.”
[5] And consume is certainly what the viewer yearns to do when confronted with Pieter Claesz’s basket of cheeses, a dish of butter curls balancing precariously on top of them. One can sense the delight this masterly painter took in depicting the crevices left by a knife as it cut through the truckle, leaving a trembling flake which demands to be plucked off and eaten by hungry fingers.
[6] Perhaps unsurprisingly some tried to see a warning against gluttony in the sensual depiction of texture, but Julie Hochstrasser, an expert in Dutch art and trade, firmly believes this is not the case. “The depictions are so luscious and enticing that I couldn’t believe it was simply a warning of what not to do,” she tells BBC Culture. Having uncovered contemporary physician’s manuals, which extolled the digestive properties of cheese and recommended its consumption at the end of a meal in order to ‘close the stomach,’ she found that in many detailed respects the paintings were simply following their recommendations.
[7] The fact that the export of cheese played such an important role in the Dutch economy opened the way to an alternative interpretation. “Not as a warning against, but as a declaration of pride in the prosperity of this newly founded country.”
[8] This is most certainly evident in the stack of cheeses by Floris van Dijck. Dominating the canvas, they are rendered with the gravitas of rock, their economic value emphasised by the fact that they are placed on a table covered in red damask, an exceptionally expensive product at the time. “Just seeing it you know you’re in a rich household,” says Buvelot.
[9] The highlight of the exhibition is undoubtedly Clara Peeters’ Still life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels. The large halved Gouda at the rear is portrayed in such astonishingly fine detail that one cannot help but desire to taste it, as indeed someone already has: the plugged hole left by a cheese taster’s scoop is clearly visible. In front sits a greenish cheese, probably from Edam, its peculiar hue attained from the horseradish or parsley juice added to the milk. The knife pointing out towards us offers enticement to try this extinct delicacy. It’s a format that must have pleased buyers as she painted four other very similar versions. Buvelot himself has a copy of it in his office. Does it make him hungry? “It makes me happy,” he laughs.
[10] A century after the paintings featured in the exhibition, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, possibly France’s finest still-life painter, was portraying cheese in his own uniquely refined manner. He does not let them dominate the canvas in the manner of his Dutch predecessors but his exquisite feeling for colour, texture and tone cannot help but draw the viewer’s gaze. As Kenneth Bendiner, author of Food in Painting, puts it, “what makes Chardin different is his simplicity.” The emphasis is on the formal beauty of these objects and in this he excels.
[11] A boxed cheese lies propped up against a wall on a simple rustic table in Chardin’s Jar of Apricots. Dainty cups and elegant wine glasses suggest it will be part of a simple yet refined afternoon tea, in tune with the culinary dictates of the day. In Still Life with Copper Pot, Cheese and Eggs he takes obvious delight in the texture of a small round cheese, a good third cut away to reveal its luscious golden interior.
[12] In the 19th Century Raphaele Peale, the first still-life painter in the US, savoured the yellow tones of a half-devoured snack in Cheese with Three Crackers. Antoine Vollon, hailed as a second Chardin, revelled in the beauty of a Brie laid out on a simple straw mat. No-one could infer a symbolic meaning in his work. It is a pure celebration of texture, form and tone.
[13] Until this point the portrayal of food, including cheese, was very much about enjoyment but in the 20th Century artists began to take a rather more experimental tone. René Magritte riffed on possibly his most famous work, Ceci n’est pas une pipe, by placing a framed painting of a Brie under a glass dome and declaring emphatically Ceci est un morceau de fromage (‘This is a piece of cheese’). A few years later Salvador Dalí was inspired by a particularly unctuous Camembert to create the clocks in The Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognised images in art history. Some saw the influence of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in the work but Dalí insisted they were nothing but “the tender, extravagant and solitary paranoiac-critical Camembert of time and space.”
[14] Cheese as an object of beauty in itself has recently been rediscovered by Christian Furr, famous for being the youngest artist ever to paint the Queen. The two subjects couldn’t be more different but he sees them as equally valid.
[15] Primarily drawn to their visual qualities he tells BBC Culture there is also an, “element of craft that I like to celebrate.” He has painted everything from a solid Beemster to a gently oozing Petit Langres against plain backgrounds carefully chosen to compliment the rich range of textures and tones of the cheeses. Intriguingly he has also found inspiration in mass produced cheeses such as Dairylea. “They have this humour about them that I really like,” he explains. In these, other meanings can inadvertently creep in. He recalls placing a Babybel decorated with a Union Jack in the middle of his studio. “It was just after Brexit and it looked quite lonely.”
[16] He has said that he wants his cheese paintings to express the full range of human emotions and also believes that you can tell a lot about someone from their taste in cheese. “And when you look at her work, it’s in keeping.” Furr’s own favourite cheese is mature Gouda which, as an heir to the Dutch masters, seems quite apt.