Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Water [1569]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Water [1569], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Twelve different varieties of fish have been identified among those offered for sale in this painting. The direct gaze of the stall holders is particularly striking, as is Beuckelaer's use of steep perspective framing the street vista to the left. Framed by the central arch is the scene of Christ appearing to the disciples for the third time after his Resurrection to perform the miracle by which fish appear in hitherto empty nets.

[Oil on canvas, 158.5 x 215 cm]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Fire [1570]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Fire [1570], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Fire is one of Beuckelaer's most ambitious works, combining the still life of haunches of meat and poultry being prepared for cooking on the fire beyond with a dramatic use of perspective constructions involving multiple vanishing points. Beyond the kitchen Christ is shown seated with Martha and Mary.

From an Antwerp family of painters, Beuckelaer trained in the studio of Pieter Aertsen. In 1560 he became an independent master, and continued to develop themes in painting pioneered by Aertsen, arguably surpassing him in skill. Both Beuckelaer and Aertsen are particularly known for their market and kitchen scenes, which display provisions and domestic activity with illusionistic details but on an often heroic scale. These scenes frequently form a foil to a biblical subject in the background, and suggest a deliberate contrast between the physical and the spiritual.

[Oil on canvas, 157.5 x 215.5 cm]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Earth [1569]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Earth [1569], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In this painting the produce is depicted with tremendous bravura: vegetables tumble from the basket held by the woman on the left, and cascade towards the viewer. Sixteen different varieties of vegetable and fruit have been identified. The tiny figures of the Holy Family can be seen crossing a bridge in the far distance on the left.

[Oil on canvas, 157.3 x 214.2 cm]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Air [1569]

Joachim Beuckelaer - The Four Elements: Air [1569], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This is one of a set of four pictures which take as their theme the four elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire. In the art of the Low Countries in the later 16th and 17th centuries it became common to symbolise the elements by references to the natural world. Here, seductive representations of market produce for sale or for cooking are combined with relevant Biblical episodes. Beuckelaer's series of paintings are among the earliest and most accomplished fusions of these themes. These four pictures were produced in Antwerp, probably for a patron in Italy. 

In this painting, Air, different kinds of fowl are offered for sale, some still alive in large wicker baskets, others dead and ready for plucking. On the platter in the centre of the foreground are rabbits, and to either side eggs in a basket and stacks of cheeses. In the middle of the composition, at a distance, the prodigal son is shown leaning against a woman in a debauched manner.

[Oil on canvas, 157.7 x 215.5 cm]

Joachim Beuckelaer - A Brothel [1562]

Joachim Beuckelaer - A Brothel [1562], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Animated scenes of carousing in village inns and brothels were enjoyed as amusing evidence of the instincts of peasants. The motifs, including a drunk balancing unsteadily on his head, suggest that the scene is to be read in a moralizing way: excess leads to foolishness. It is intriguing then that Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish, c.1533 - 1574) inserted his signature and the date October 26, 1562, among the chalk marks on the mantelpiece, tallies of drinks consumed. Beuckelaer was one of the great contributors to this new interest in rural life.

[Oil on panel, 26.6 x 35.5 cm]