El asado

El asado (The Roast) is one of Manzoni's late works, possibly one of his last before he returned to Italy, and a prime example of his maturity as an artist. Though present, the rural folkloric themes are not of major interest to the artist, who was more concerned with quick portraits that captured the heads of popular figures, a practice that must have served him well when executing the four heads of the characters of El asado, where the strength of the painting, which is framed like a photograph, resides. A point of reference for their expressive gestures and racial characteristics is required to understand the painting: An old Criollo peasant is teaching some immigrant children about the asado. In the foreground, we see an abundance of meat and a knife glowing with the reflection of the fire (a Criollo dagger that brings to mind the local saying: "He who does not have a knife does not eat")

The heights of the heads create an undulating rhythm balanced by the diagonal line hinted at by the movement of the hands, and centered on the whiteness of the hand of the young woman offering a cup of maté.

The man closing the composition near the bottom of the canvas represents poverty and yearning for the abundant meat.

Combining two traditional items on the same canvas, an asado and maté in this case, was common in rural iconography. In the background we see a country landscape with another gaucho on horseback and a peasant woman.

Argentina's passion for beef dates back to 1556 when cattle was first introduced to the land, reproducing and spreading massively in its vast open plains until reaching 40 million heads by the early 18th century. Anyone had the right to hunt the cattle, and from then on, eating chargrilled beef became a common custom in Argentina.

There are different ways of preparing the asado. In the region of Buenos Aires, hunks of raw meat would be placed directly on the embers; much later, around 1870–80, iron grills began to be used. On the coast, meat was skewered on log wood stakes, and in the north and the Cuyo region it was usually roasted in clay ovens.

A good knife was an essential piece of equipment for eating asado.

In his book Travels in Chile and La Plata 1819–1824, John Miers, a British botanist who visited Argentina in 1818, describes the custom of eating barbecued meat in these lands as follows:

This is the favorite mode of cooking, it is called asado; it is, however, a good mode, as the quickness of the operation prevents the loss of the gravy. The people themselves do not remove the spit from the fire, but cut off slices, or pretty large mouthfuls from the piece as it roasts. They squat round the fire on their heels, each pulling out his knife, which he invariably carries about him day and night, and helps himself as he pleases, taking with it neither bread, salt, nor pepper.

The caption under the painting when it hung at the National Exhibition of Córdoba, where it obtained the gold medal, explains it well: Gaucho from Buenos Aires teaching a foreigner the peculiar art of carving meat. El asado is one of the very first depictions of immigration. In this piece, Manzoni chose to represent the meeting of the heterogeneous groups populating the countryside, far removed from the iconography of rural life such as Arcadias.