I didn't think you were dissin' my docs. I was just trying to point out when looking at period pictures of people at table, you have to sort through a _lot_ of Last Suppers, Wedding at Cana, Dinner in the House of Mary & Martha etc. Pictures of "real people" at table are harder to come by. The other problem we have is, gluttony was still a big sin then. Just as we don't take pictures of people with food in their mouths, they didn't paint pictures of people with a lot of food on the table, unless they were trying to make a political or moral point. We're making some big assumptions on a few pictures. Iconographic evidence will only take you so far in reproducing an event.
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Date: 2008-03-11 10:27 pm (UTC)The other problem we have is, gluttony was still a big sin then. Just as we don't take pictures of people with food in their mouths, they didn't paint pictures of people with a lot of food on the table, unless they were trying to make a political or moral point. We're making some big assumptions on a few pictures. Iconographic evidence will only take you so far in reproducing an event.