La llegada y adaptación de alimentos americanos en Europa y su reflejo en el arte europeo de la Edad Moderna

Resumo

The encounter and conquest of America was, without a doubt, one of the most relevant events of the Modern Age. Its economic, social, and political consequences reached, to a greater or lesser extent, all European regions, and all layers of society. One of the aspects that, in the longterm, brought the most consequences for the daily life of Europeans was the introduction and adaptation of plants and animals from the American continent, which became an essential part of European diets. Their impact on European food has been deeply studied by historians. However, among all the documentary sources used (recipe books, scientific works...), there is one that still does not seem to have been properly analysed: works of art.From the confirmation of this fact, the present doctoral thesis arises and has as its main objectives:1. To show the relationship between some material, social, cultural, and ideological conditions and the representation of elements external to European culture.2. To analyse the value of artistic representations as a source for understanding the phenomenon of the arrival and acclimatisation of American foods in Europe, in comparison with other sources traditionally used for the study of this historical phenomenon.3. And to analyse the general value that art can have as a documentary source for history, its limits, possibilities, and determinants...