<i>Mound of Butter</i>
Authors: Thomas B. Cole
Journal: JAMA (2014)

At room temperature, butter softens to the spreadable consistency of fresh paint, and then it can be sculpted, pressed into a mold, or smoothed with a wooden spatula, as in Mound of Butter by the 19th-century French painter Antoine Vollon (1875-1885). In this image the marks of the painter, etched into a slab of impasto, are read as scrapes and swirls made by the spatula. The picture looks as though it could have been painted with butter, and perhaps it was—Vollon was known to have mixed pigments with whatever materials were at hand. At the time of this painting, butter was still made by hand on small farms from cow’s milk collected over several days. The deep yellow color of this batch of butter suggests that it was tinted with the pigment carotene from plants in the pasture where the cows grazed. After milking, pails of collected cream were allowed to age until the cream slightly soured, producing the characteristic flavor of European “cultured” butter. The cream was then agitated to shake out the butter in tiny lumps, which were kneaded by hand or worked with a spatula to express the milk. Rinsing milk from the butter prolonged its shelf life, since milk turns rancid more quickly than fat. After the butter was sufficiently worked, it was wrapped in cheesecloth and stored in a cool place. In the painting, the mound’s wrapping is in dishabille, falling loosely over a pair of tipsy eggs. Vollon was born in Lyon, France, in 1833. He was an artisan before he was a painter, working in the engraving, printmaking, and enameling trades. In 1859 he moved to Paris to study with Theodule Ribot, whose specialty was painting scenes of everyday life in a realistic style. Influenced by his teacher and by Dutch painters of the 17th century, Vollon became adept at creating compositions of related objects such as the accoutrements of a well-equipped kitchen: fruit, flowers, tankards, cauldrons, pottery, dead rabbits, and fresh fish. Later in life he joked that he became a still-life painter because he was too poor to hire live models, and at the end of the day he could eat his subjects for supper. His admirers compared Vollon to the 18th-century master JeanBaptiste-Simeon Chardin, who was also a painter of kitchenware and food (JAMA cover, March 3, 2004). By the end of his career Vollon had risen to the top of his profession; in 1897 he was elected to the Academie des Beaux-Arts, and in 1900 he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World's Fair. Vollon is best known for his uninhibited and unorthodox methods of handling paint. Other painters were capable of slathering pigment onto canvas and working it in with their fingers, brushes, and palette knives, but Vollon would apply paint with just about anything, from the sleeve of his coat to pebbles from the road. In comparison with the highly finished still lifes of Chardin, Vollon’s images have a hand-made quality, an attribute that would be prized in the coming era of expressionist art. Vollon’s method of painting suits the subject of Mound of Butter, which also required vigorous handling to get the best result. It was only natural that a painter preoccupied with food would try his hand at painting butter, a foundational element of French sauces and pastry. Of the five “mother sauces” refined by the French chef Auguste Escoffier—bechamel, espagnole, veloute, tomate, and hollandaise—the first four are thickened with a roux of flour whisked into butter. The fifth sauce, hollandaise, is an emulsion of butter, egg yolk, and lemon or vinegar that is made by whisking the components vigorously over low heat to disperse the butterfat into the acidified egg yolk mixture. Without butterfat there would be no emulsion, and Eggs Benedict would be just a scrambled egg. Some regions of France, such as Normandy and PoitouCharentes, are known for producing butters with special properties. Soft, spreadable butters are fine for making sauces, but a firm butter is better for pastry because it melts slowly into the dough for a flaky crust. In Vollon’s day food preparation was a typical subject for still-life paintings, but it wasn’t always that way. One hundred years earlier, paintings of busts, musical instruments, and old books were given precedence for their classical themes, but by the late 19th century, kitchen scenes were en vogue (JAMA cover, December 19, 1990). Since then the kitchen has continued to gain prominence in popular culture. Today many families cook together, and not just on holidays such as Thanksgiving. In times past, when kitchens were smoky, noisy, and hot, they were separated from living and dining areas, but modern kitchens are more livable. New homes may be designed around the kitchen, and older homes can be redesigned by knocking out walls to create “open-concept” living environments (as anyone can attest who watches home improvement shows on television). Along with the contemporary focus on food preparation, there is a new appreciation of quality in the foods selected for cooking and eating. Farmers markets have re-emerged, selling fresh produce and artisanal dairy products. These are healthy developments. The US Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend cooking and eating meals at home when feasible, because the more control families have over what goes into their food, the greater opportunity they will have to make healthy choices about ingredients and portion sizes.