Professor Butter Beard and the “Creation of Adam”
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
It has been an exhausting week of mistakes. On Monday, I baked two dozen cranberry orange muffins for my neighbors and realized, after they had been in the oven for twenty minutes, that I completely forgot to add any baking powder. Automatic rebake. Then mid-week, I boldly attempted to bake a very Parisian version of saffron pound cakes, only to bake them into expensive mud-bricks suitable for Etruscan temple construction. And then, just when I thought the week’s embarrassing stumbles were almost over, I followed up on a craving for a lemon blueberry drizzle cake, loaded the batter with frozen berries, and watched it collapse before me as I attempted to release it from its fabulous Bundt pan. Even Nellie laughed at me, saying: “Dad! You can’t add blueberry ice cubes to cake batter. Can I try it anyway?”
“Learn from the mistakes of others,” says Eleanor. I agree, but I think where I find real courage to recover is when I commiserate with the mistakes and gain inspiration from the remarkable revisions of others.
For example…….
In 1505, Michelangelo was invited to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb, which was to include forty statues and be finished in five years. The tomb project was never finished, but the Pope also had a second commission in mind. In 1508, Michelangelo undertook the painting of the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. According to historical accounts, Bramante, who was working on the building of St Peter's Basilica, resented Michelangelo's commission for the Pope's tomb and convinced the Pope to commission him in a medium (fresco painting) with which he was unfamiliar, in order that he might fail at the task.
Yet, to the amazement of Bramante and the Pope, Michelangelo went on to create one of the most famous images in all of Western Art – God gifting life to Adam.
Adam, with dreamy eyes and slightly parted lips, props himself up on his elbow and looks longingly, but mostly blankly, towards his creator. William Wallace writes, “Michelangelo painted a beautiful male specimen, but one who is, as yet, merely an empty material vessel awaiting the animating spark of God’s spirit.”
Michelangelo’s version of God hurtles through space, his billowing mantle shrouding a cherubic host that appears unhinged by a divine ecstasy. He thrust his muscular hand towards Adam’s, his intensity and certain purpose matched by his creation’s yearning yet tentative reach. Their fingers approach but never touch, leaving a narrow gap cracking with invisible electricity and passionate promise.
We know Michelangelo was a prolific draftsman, as he was trained in a Florentine workshop at a dynamic time in the art scene, when paper had become readily available in sufficient quantity. Sketching was always the first step in Michelangelo's artistic process, as it helped him plan his final paintings and sculptural pieces and we are very fortunate that examples of this process remain available to us to study and absorb.
Michelangelo completed two sketches in Rome in preparation for the “Creation of Adam” scene and both are currently held in the British Museum collection in London.
The first sketch is a study of a reclining male nude created in 1508 in dark red chalk. Red chalk was Michelangelo's preferred medium at this period of time, as it could be shaved to a finer point than black chalk. Michelangelo used this fine point to create a scintillating skin surface, that was unique for this particular sketch, and is not seen in his later works. This “Adam drawing” also has a number of early retouchings in brush and brown wash over the layers of red chalk.
The second is a “Scheme for the Decoration of the Vault of the Sistine Chapel: Studies of Arms and Hands.” The right side of the page was sketched in 1508 with black chalk, and is a study of Adam's limp hand, before it is ignited with the spark of life from his creator. Michelangelo sketched this over a previous brown, lead point stylus study of the vaulted Sistine Chapel ceiling. Here we witness the artist’s thought process, as he envisions and revises the hand, again and again, imagining life being gifted from God to man.
Revisions. Steps forward towards clarity of our internal visions and realizing, and accepting, mistakes as part of the journey. Michelangelo inspired me to return to the kitchen and rethink a classic in my repertoire. To enhance my usual Banana Cream Pie, I added a layer of toasted almonds for additional texture and another barrier against the dreaded “soggy bottom.” I traded out a traditional vanilla pastry cream for a butterscotch version with brown sugar and a hint of nutmeg. And I cut back the overwhelming mound of whipped cream to just a thin billowing cloud adding just a touch of a breeze. Revisions, inspired by a master.
Butterscotch Banana Cream Pie
Crust:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
8 Tbsp (one stick) unsalted butter, melted
Butterscotch Pastry Cream:
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
½ cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla paste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into three pieces
To finish:
1 cup almond slices, toasted and cooled
2 ripe bananas
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
1) For the crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together the crumbs, sugar and salt. Melt the 8 Tbsp butter and use 1 Tbsp to grease a 9” pie pan. Pour the remaining butter over the crumb mixture and toss with your fingers until the crumbs absorb all the butter. Press the crumbs evenly into the pan and place the pan in the freezer while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes and set on a rack to cool completely.
2) Toast the almond slices and set aside.
3) For the butterscotch pastry cream: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan to a simmer. In another medium bowl, whisk together the six yolks, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisking constantly, slowly stream in the warm milk to heat the egg mixture. Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil – whisking constantly! Boil and whisk the mixture for 1-2 minutes to ensure the cornstarch and eggs are cooked. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and nutmeg and then the butter until fully incorporated.
4) In the cooled crust, create a bottom single layer of the toasted almonds (save a few for garnish). Then slice the two bananas over the almonds. Spoon the pastry cream over the bananas. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and chill for at least three hours.
5) When ready to serve, whisk the heavy cream, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla to medium peaks. Spoon over the chilled custard and sprinkle the top with the remaining almond slices. Slice and serve.
