Joachim Bueckelaer - The Well-Stocked Kitchen [1566]

Joachim Bueckelaer - The Well-Stocked Kitchen [1566], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Joachim Bueckelaer (c.1530 – 1573) was born in Antwerp and started by working for his uncle, Pieter Aertsen. In his uncle's work-place he learnt to paint market scenes and kitchen tableaux combined with biblical themes. In 1560 he established himself as an independent painter in his home town. Bueckelaer also painted the staffage in the work of other painters such as Anthonis Mor. Filling in the staffage entailed painting in the figures and other details. Bueckelaer was not paid very well during his lifetime. The biographer Karel van Mander reports that Bueckelaer's paintings did not fetch very much. After his death his works became worth at least twelve times as much. 

Here Joachim Bueckelaer provides a view of a well-stocked kitchen. He has painted the room with such suggestion that you could almost step inside. It contains profuse quantities of food. Various kinds of vegetable and fruit, a large piece of lamb, game and poultry: something for everyone's taste. Two kitchen maids are plucking chickens ready to be grilled on a skewer. The men in the kitchen are taking advantage of the drink. In the background, a group is gathering around a man dressed in grey - Christ, a guest in the house of Martha and Mary. 

[Oil on panel, 171 x 205 cm]