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Michelangelo, the great Italian Renaissance artist who sculpted the David and painted St. Peter's Basilica, is known for his great achievements as a sculptor, painter, architect, engineer and a poet. But one little known fact is that this great artist could also put together a mean grocery list.
In this grocery list dating back to the 16th century, we see that Michelangelo not only wrote down what he needed but he also took the time to illustrate each item. Although the drawings are beautiful, wouldn’t a written list have sufficed? Apparently not.
Steve Duin from the Oregonian explains it best: “Because the servant he was sending to market was illiterate, Michelangelo illustrated the shopping lists — a herring, tortelli, two fennel soups, four anchovies and ‘a small quarter of a rough wine’ — with rushed (and all the more exquisite for it) caricatures in pen and ink.”
Via Open Culture
