Vinsanto And Books 

Dan Graziano painted ‘Vinsanto and Books’ with oil on panel in the twenty-first century. Here we see a bottle of dessert wine placed next to a pile of books. Graziano’s painting evokes the Dutch Golden Age and the still-life genre that was popularized during the 17th century. Artists used visual codes and cultural references to prompt moral reflection. Here, the artist is also trying to say something by the objects that he depicts, creating meaning through the association of ideas. The subject matter of a painter like Graziano, in our own time, indicates something about the artist’s social position, perhaps that of a self-consciously cultivated and educated person. Vinsanto, an Italian dessert wine, is not cheap, and neither are books. His choice to depict these particular objects indicates that Graziano is concerned with portraying his social milieu. To understand this painting better, one would research the market for still-life paintings today and the ways that artists create cultural value through social distinction. Ultimately, this painting’s meaning is contingent on its social and institutional context.