About the Author

Panagiotis Doudesis

E-Mail: pd448@cantab.ac.uk

Panagiotis Doudesis is a historian of architecture and the decorative arts. He obtained his PhD in May 2025 at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Caroline van Eck. His thesis examined the fascinating properties of the European centerpieces and table settings in the long eighteenth century. His academic experience includes teaching in undergraduate courses and summer schools in Cambridge and abroad. He has published so far on early modern dining, art, and architecture with Bloomsbury, with more publications coming soon. Panagiotis Doudesis holds degrees in architectural engineering (Uni. of Thessaly), theory of architecture (M.Sc., N.T.U. Athens), and history of art and architecture (M.Phil, Uni. of Cambridge).

Contributions by Author: Panagiotis Doudesis

Issue 20
centerpieces
dining
Early Modern Europe
feast
material culture

Ancient Roman Columns, Eagles, Sciences, and Other Representations

Centerpieces and the Ornamentation of the Early Modern European Festive Table Setting

Diachronically speaking, humans have adorned their dining tables with fascinating objects and ensembles for all sorts of reasons and on all sorts of occasions. This is especially the case when a grand celebration is involved, when a manifestation needs to take place, when one seeks to provide an intensely pleasurable experience for their guests, or even when appearances have to be kept within certain social and political circles. These reasons, and many more, can often be simultaneously ‘responsible’ for the decorative choices in a single feast: the further one looks back into European history, the more food and its consumption reflected one’s position in the…