Johann Wilhelm Baur
1607 – 1641
“La Festa della Cuccagna” at the Quirinale, Rome
Medium:
Gouache on Card
Category:
Dimensions:
17(h) x 20.5(w) cms
Framed Dimensions:
23(h) x 27(w) cms
Exhibitions:
Essay:
The Cuccagna festival was a bizarre feasting tradition with its origins in the Medieval period and was most associated with Naples. Cuccagna (Cockaigne is the English equivalent) refers to a make-believe land of plenty where food falls from the sky. Typically hosted by Italian lords on the event of a wedding or holiday, the most recognisable feature of the festival was the 'Cuccagna tree' which was a greased tree or pole with food tied to the top like prizes. Often the food was luxurious items and could include live birds, legs of ham, wheels of cheese, and whole fishes.
As we see in Baur's picture a fight has broken out at the base of the Cuccagna tree as the hungry peasants try desperately to be the first to climb the pole, much to the amusement of the wealthier citizens - a typical and very much intended consequence of the festival. Eventually the brutality of the festival grew too much and the event gradually disappeared around the end of the 1700s.
Baur stayed in Rome and Naples from 1631 - 1637 where he worked for several noble families and patrons including Duke of Bracciano, the Marquis Giustiniani, Ferdinando Colonna, and Marcantonio Borghese.
Another smaller view of the Quirinale by Baur is in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv. no 488). It was painted around 1636 as part of a series of four round miniatures each depicting a different Roman piazza. Like the Borghese version the present picture is also looking to the west with the great statues The Discuri on the right and the Papal residence The Quirinal Palace on the left. The red-roofed building in the centre is the palazzo of Cardinal Guido Ferrero of Vercelli which was demolished a century later.
Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy
