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Organic food company uses Caravaggio painting on pasta sauce label

It is a label designed to give an ordinary jar of tomato pasta sauce an authentic Italian feel with the help of 16th century artist Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio.

But the classic artwork used on the label has introduced a sinister edge to a jar of tomato and mushroom pasta sauce.

While the label itself only shows a woman's face, drawn with a thoughtful expression, the context of the painting reveals a different story.

A label for Middle Earth Organics' Organic tomato and porcini mushroom sauce features a woman's face which has been taken from a 1588 work by artist Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio

A label for Middle Earth Organics' Organic tomato and porcini mushroom sauce features a woman's face which has been taken from a 1588 work by artist Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio

When the woman's face is seen in the original painting her expression reveals something a lot more sinister as she is in fact Judith and is mid way through beheading Holofernes, who she seduced, with a large sword

When the woman's face is seen in the original painting her expression reveals something a lot more sinister as she is in fact Judith and is mid way through beheading Holofernes, who she seduced, with a large sword

For it has been taken from a 1588 work by Caravaggio, called Judith Beheading Holofernes.

The contemplative expression of the woman actually shows a face locked in concentration because she is midway through cutting off a man's head with a large sword.

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The painting is inspired by the Book of Judith which tells how she saved her own people by seducing Holofernes, getting him drunk and then cutting off his head. It has been suggested that rather than a face of pondering, Judith's expression is one of a mixture of concentration and repulsion. 

Caravaggio is believed to have created the artwork between 1588 and 1589 and has taken the most dramatic moment from the story to paint the piece.

Middle Earth Organics uses Italian paintings on all of its labels, but this is the first with such a grim context

Middle Earth Organics uses Italian paintings on all of its labels, but this is the first with such a grim context

The label has been used by Middle Earth Organics and every label of organic pasta sauce incorporates a famous Italian painting. 

But the image selected for the organic tomato and porcini mushroom sauce jar is the only product known to have such a grim context.  

 

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Zora Stowers

Update: 2024-05-20