FLORENTINES

"Florentines" is an anthology inspired by the rediscovery of Giovanna Garzoni, a miniaturist painter at the court of the Medici in the 17th century. Traditional Tuscan recipes and contemporary extracts describing the region and its luscious produce are illustrated with her watercolours of pumpkins, hams, branches, pans, pots, fish, vegetables and fruit. Giovanna Garzoni ended her days in a Capucine convent in Rome, to which she left her papers and a sample sketchbook, and only in the early 60s was evaluation of her work begun. Many of her surviving paintings were commissioned by Medici patrons, chiefly Prince Leopoldo and Cardinal Giovan Carlo. Fittingly therefore, Lorenza de Medici, an authority on Italian cooking and direct descendent of the renowned Medici contributes a foreword as well as timeless regional recipes, some dating back two centuries. Garzoni painted predominantly portraits and still lifes of flowers and fruits. Her works have a fresh presence and almost surreal quality that explain her immense popularity in her own day and make her long, subsequent neglect all the more mysterious.