In quiet awe: In a roman osteria

In a season defined by community and good company thanks to Chanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years Eve, I thought that this painting was perfect for the month of December.

Carl Bloch, ’In a roman Osteria’ (1866)

An oil in canvas painting by Danish painter Carl Bloch (1834-1890).
I’ve always found this painting to be comical and humorous as well as fascinating and captivating because what are YOU looking at?

There’s something wonderfully suspicious about this table. Three people are sitting together, eating and drinking, and yet all three have suddenly turned their attention toward the same thing.

Were they interrupted by something or someone? If so, then I would react the same way as the man if I was interrupted or disturbed while I’m eating a delicious meal of bread and salad. The audacity. Why is the woman wearing a napkin on her head? Maybe the annoyance is me and thanks to me staring at her. Her expression seems to be as if she’s used to the looks she gets but her, I assume, brother is in defense mode and ready to pull out that knife. But can you blame me? Don’t look at me like that, look at your damn self.

Carl Bloch’s attention to details are so attractive to me and I’ve always found In a Roman Osteria to be quite amusing. Because jokes aside, what happened immediately before this moment? Where they interrupred by someone entering the room? Did somebody say something? Or have I been staring at them for too long? The assumed brother certainly seems to think so.

Except for the obvious, Bloch has filled the scene with details that makes me want to linger. Napkin-womans blue skirt seems like it would feel incredible to the touch. It must be china silk fabric. Even the flies have personality and are already pissing me off, the slightly soiled tablecloth, the wine decanter that looks so delicious and makes me want to go back to my destructive relationship with alcohol and the different facial expressions portraying different emotions in every person.

The colors used in this painting are perfect! They work together in the most exquisite way possible. Not too bold and not too muted but bright enough to catch your attention. The reds, creams, blues and browns sit together perfectly and with such ease and so much so that the entire scene feels warm and lived-in.

This beautiful painting reminds me of my visit to Rome in January 2018 and the stares I would get from the locals. Most of them not pleasant and they were never shy of displaying their dislike of my presence. Maybe that’s why they’re staring at me like this? Perhaps I’m the odd one in the Osteria. At least the cat doesn’t seem to have an issue with me. I think.

If you wish to learn more: Art Deco – This provocative painting went too far
Other paintings I’ve written about: Lover of art
The fallen angel
The lunatic of Etretat
The execution of Lady Jane Grey
Judith beheading Holofernes