Market Women at a Vegetable Stand

The basic groundwork for the development of the still-life as an independent genre in painting was laid by Pieter Aertsen and his nephew Joachim Beuckelaer (circa 1530 and 1574). After a period of apprenticeship in Amsterdam, Aertsen settled in Antwerp around 1530, becoming prosperous and eminent there, but nonetheless
moving back to Amsterdam in 1555. Nor did he lack commissions in that city. It were in particular his still-lifes that were admired, and which are even mentioned in a commission he received for an altarpiece for the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. And although Aertsen had long since earned a reputation for his religious scenes,
it was his still-lifes, with their deceptive lifelikeness, that made a deeper impression on his contemporaries.
The present picture, which dates from the artist’s late period, is dominated by a marvellous still-life consisting of fruits and vegetables. Using deep, powerful colours, the yields of the harvest, and various other products for kitchen and dining table, are displayed in overwhelming abundance on a surface that is tilted forward towards
the viewer. Seated amidst these offerings, designed to appeal to all of the beholder’s senses, is a young peasant woman who gestures towards her wares with outspread arms. She wears a large straw hat, a red dress with a black bodice and white collar, and a greyish-blue apron. Among the items spread out still-life-style in baskets are
cucumbers, a variety of squash, turnips, radishes, white, red, and savoy cabbage, bunches of grapes, apples, peaches, walnuts, and chestnuts. Set amidst them are waffles, loaves of bread, and pastries. The ensemble is completed by a slab of butter on a plate, lemons as exotic fruits, and a pickled herring.
Fruits and vegetables allude to the autumn season, when preparations are underway for wintertime. Aertsen’s pictures are consistently based on schemes related to the four seasons, the four elements, and the five senses. Aertsen often inserts religious scenes such as Jesus Visiting Mary and Martha, the Disciples of Emmaus,
or Christ and the Adulteress, into the background of his pictures. Such scenes refer via antithesis to the human bondage to the senses. In the present picture as well, the couple that embraces in the background suggests that abandonment to sensuality, to voluptas carnis, endangers the salvation of the soul. The empty cart and unharnessed horse speak a clear language. In contrast, the market woman among her offerings and the farmer who leads his ox to market can be judged – both literally and figuratively – from the fruits of their labours. Nor is this, however, the measure of all things. The lemon, an emblem of external beauty, is sour on the inside. It
alludes to the doubtful nature of pleasure, whose consequences can be bitter, and can involve the loss of one’s very soul. The herring, so foreign in appearance in the larger context of the still-life, has been consumed since time immemorial as Lenten fare. Fasting however is an exercise which strengthens the faithful against the
temptations of the senses, leading them along the path towards redemption. Seen in this light, Aertsen’s picture contains a message that highlights the dualism of human existence while admonishing us to use our earthly possessions righteously. Rainald Grosshans | 200 Masterpieces of European Painting - Gemäldegalerie Berlin, 2019