When cookbooks are artbooks

Dining with Marcel Proust : practical guide (roll down the link)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dining-Marcel-Proust-Practical-Cuisine/dp/0803278268

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Monet's Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet

One of the most influential painters of modern times, Claude Monet lived for half his life in the famous house at Giverny. It was after moving here in 1883 with his future second wife, Alice Hoschedé, and their eight children that Monet's work finally achieved recognition. His growing success meant that he was able to indulge his passion for comfort and good living.

Family meals, special celebrations, luncheons with friends, picnics: all reflected the Monets' love of good food. Just as the inspiration for many of Monet's paintings was drawn from his beloved gardens and the surrounding Normandy landscape, so the meals served at Giverny were based upon superb ingredients from the kitchen-garden (a work of art in itself), the farmyard, and the French countryside.

A moody, reserved, and very private man whose daily routine revolved totally around his painting, Monet nevertheless enjoyed entertaining his friends, many of whom were leading figures of the time. As well as his fellow Impressionists -- in particular Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas and Cezanne -- other regular guests included Rodin, Whistler, Maupassant, Valery, and one of Monet's closest friends, the statesman Clemenceau.