Giegher and Härsdorffer: Carving and Folding Between Italy and Germany

• In Event: Renaissance Food History I: Cookbooks as Sources

Abstract

Mattia Giegher’s Li Tre Trattati (Padua 1629 and subsequent) brought together three works by the author, who is described on the title page as the “carver to the German nation in Padua.” The book, printed in an unusual landscape format, contained information on how to be a steward (Lo scalco), and to carve (Il trinciante), and how to fold (Trattato delle piegature). The 48 copper-plate illustrations for this book were highly influential, appearing in adaptations and copies well into the next century. Closely related to Giegher’s book is Georg Philip Härsdoffer’s Vollständiges Trinicir-Büchlein (Nuremberg, 1640 and subsequent). Though the paratextual sections are notably different, reflecting the books’ respective patronage as well as the more florid stylistic trends of the German Baroque, comparison of the images, typography and layout, which adopts the same horizontal format, yields insights into the audience and market for these works.

Author

• Deborah L. Krohn, Bard Graduate Center