Chris Beetles Gallery

(click image to enlarge)

Yellow Zucchini on Otranto Mosaics – the Farming Months of the Year

Val Archer (born 1946)

Price

£1,750

Signed

Signed with initials

Medium

Oil on paper

Dimensions

19 x 14 inches

Illustrated

Drawn for but not Illustrated in Anna Del Conte and Val Archer, The Painter, the Cook and the Art of Cucina, London: Conran Octopus, 2007

Exhibited

'Val Archer: The Art of Cucina', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October 2007, no 80;
'Val Archer: An Italian Summer', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, May 2012, no 32;
'Italy 1800-2025: A Celebration of an English Love Affair', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, April 2025

This work was completed for the Puglia chapter in the collaborative book by Anna Del Conte and Val Archer, The Painter, The Cook and the Art of Cucina, London: Octopus, 2007.

‘There is an intimacy about the Otranto Duomo, it is deeply rooted in the local community. The mosaics of the farmer’s year are devoted to the jobs that the local farmers actually do, they are about the people and for the people.
This wasn’t included in the book as Anna decided not to use the yellow zucchini recipe.’
Val Archer, 2025

Otranto cathedral was consecrated in 1088 and the building features Byzantine, early Christian and Romanesque architecture styles. It is most famous for the vast 12th century mosaic floor which covers the entire floor of the nave, the sanctuary and the apse. The ‘farming months of the year’, that Val has represented in her work, are at the cross of the central nave.

Framed