Portret van een onbekende man en vrouw die spaghetti eten en wijn drinken 1860 - 1880

Giorgio Conrad made this hand-colored photograph of an unknown man and woman eating and drinking around the mid-19th century. It captures a moment of everyday life, but it is also clearly staged for the camera. The image's charm relies on a set of cultural contrasts: between the simplicity of the food and drink and the grand tradition of Italian art, and between the studio setting and the bare feet. The clothing suggests a regional folk tradition, perhaps meant to evoke the Italian countryside. But the most striking feature is the spaghetti itself, piled high on a plate, offered to the viewer as a kind of spectacle. What was Conrad's intention? Was he celebrating Italian culture, or was he playing on stereotypes for a foreign audience? To understand this image better, we might look at popular representations of Italians at the time, as well as the history of tourism and the marketing of Italian culture. Ultimately, the photograph reminds us that even the simplest image is shaped by the social and cultural forces of its time.