Luigi Ballerini, Leonardo's Eels

In 1494-98, Leonardo da Vinci painted what is arguably the most famous painting of all times, The Last Supper. And he graces the Lord’s Table—inevitably a Jewish meal—with dishes of eels, a Renaissance delicacy but clearly a non-kosher food. Why? We explore the context of real food beginning to be painted in Last Suppers in the second half of the 15th century, as a result of the liceity of pleasure, resurrected by Florentine Humanists’ reading of Classical Texts (primarily Lucretius and Aristotle), which, in ever larger quantities and surprising varieties, remains a staple of that painterly subject throughout the 16th century. And a hypothesis is formulated about da Vinci’s painting that transcends the painter’s minimalistic gastronomic interests, as well as his incessant scientific curiosity. 

(born 1940, Milan) is an Italian essayist, editor, translator and award-winning poet. He has taught Italian Literature at CUNY, New York University, The University of California Los Angeles and Yale University. His collected poetry (1972-2016) was published by Mondadori in 2015. His two-voice poetry monologue Cefalonia (Mondadori 2005, Marsilio 2013) has been translated into English, Russian and Spanish. William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, Herman Melville are some of the American Authors he has translated into Italian. His latest books include, Apollo figlio di Apelle (essays on contemporary sculpture, Marsiio, 2016), Divieto di Sosta (a collection of poems Aragno 2019, Spanish edition, El sastre de Apollinaire, 2023), Il remo di Ulisse, a collection of essays on Ballerini’s poetry and poetics, edited by Ugo Perolino was published by Marsilio in 2022. In the fall of the current year, University of Toronto Press will release the second volume of his two tome, humongous, anthology of Italian Poetry from Pasolini to 2015 (First volume published in 2017): Those Who from Afar Look like Flies.

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