Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Partie de Campagne, an 1897 lithograph, depicts a couple going off to spend a day in the country. Lautrec makes a visual pun by having a dog run behind the conveyance known as a dogcart. According to French usage of the day, Lautrec prefers the euphemism for partie de campagne.
Julia Child created a menu inspired by the lithograph for Carol Eron’s The Artist’s Table: A Cookbook by Master Chefs Inspired by Paintings in the National Gallery of Art (1995). Because Toulouse-Lautrec does not detail the food or drink for his partie de campagne, Child has free reign to invent a picnic, which for her is French haute cuisine. Rather than a typical picnic of practical foods, Child thinks big. The first course of her grand menu, Osetra caviar (a pricey variety), must be chilled until eaten. Child’s menu in The Artist’s Table also includes Onion Tart/Pissaladière [a Focaccia bread], Cold Roast Pheasant With Parma Ham and Fresh Figs, Celery Rémoulade [Mayonnaise-Based Sauce], Ripe Tomatoes Vinaigrette, Epoissés Cheese, Salade De Fruits, Chocolate Lace Wafers, and Sweet Green Grapes.
Featured Image: Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Country Outing [Partie de Campagne] (1897), color lithograph. Collection of Mr. Mrs. Paul Mellon. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art. Lautrec jokes that the wagon chased by the dog is called a dogcart.,
See Carol Eron, ed. The Artist’s Table: A Cookbook by Master Chefs Inspired by Paintings in the National Gallery of Art. San Francisco: CollinsPublishersSanFrancisco, 1995.